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TRUTH IN LOVE. 

SERMONS 



BY THE LATE 



REV. JOSIAH D. "SMITH, D.D., 

PASTOR OF WESTMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH, COLUMBUS, OHIO. 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE 

BY THE 

Rev. JAMES M. PLATT, 

PASTOR OP THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH OF ZANESVILLE, OHIO, 

AND AN 

j-] INTRODUCTION 

/ BY 

M. W. JACOBUS, D. D., 

PROFESSOR IN THE WESTERN THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY. 



" Speaking the jtPtrtfjfia/ IovS^Ephesians iv. 15. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

No. 821 Chestnut Street. 







Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1864, by 

THE TRUSTEES OP THE 

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 
of Pennsylvania. 

STEREOTYPED BY WESTC0TT & THOMSON. 



z6S 



TO 



HER WHO SHARED THE SPIRITUAL ANXIETY, AND FAITH, AND 

HOPE, IN WHICH THESE DISCOURSES WERE FIRST 

PREPARED AND PREACHED; 

AND 

To the Afflicted Flock 

WHO STILL REMEMBER THE WORDS OP THE PASTOR WHO 

" PREACHED CHRIST UNTO THEM," 
THIS VOLTTME 

IS 

AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

Introduction, by M. W. Jacobus, D.D 7 

Biographical Preface, by the Rev. James M. Piatt 11 

SERMON I. 
The Friend op God. — Jas. ii. 23 27 

SERMON II. 
The Lessons op the Flowers. — Luke xii. 27 41 

SERMON III. 
Orpah and Ruth. — Ruth i. 14 55 

SERMON IV. 
Bearing the Yoke in Youth. — Lam, iii. 27... 68 

SERMON V. 
Harvest-time Neglected. — Jer. viii. 20 82 

SERMON VI. 
The Sin op not loving Christ. — 1 Cor. xvf. 22 97 

SERMON VII. 
Absalom's Death. — 2 Sam. xviii. 14-17 112 

SERMON VIII. 

The Finished Work. — John xix. 30 127 

1* 6 



6 CONTENTS. 

SERMON IX. 

PAGB 

Hoping and Waiting. — Lam. iii. 26 144 

SERMON X. 
The Love op Christ, known, yet unknown. — Eph. iii. 19 157 

SERMON XL 
The Dispensation of the Spirit. — John vii. 39 173 

SERMON XII. 
The Blade, the Ear, and the Pull Corn. — Mark iv. 26-29 188 

SERMON XIII. 
God's Witnesses. — Isa. xliii. 10 203 

SERMON XIV. 
Increase our Faith. — Luke xvii. 5 , 220 

SERMON XV. 
The Spirit, an Unction, a Seal, and an Earnest. — 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. 234 

SERMON XVI. 
Divine Guidance and Discipline. — Deut. viii. 15, 16 249 

SERMON XVII. 
The Banquet and the Banner. — Sol. Song ii. 14 , 264 

SERMON XVIII. 
Faith, Hope, and Charity. — 1 Cor. xiii. 13 279 

! 

XIX. 

ADDRESS. 

The Law op Human Progress, in its relation to Theology... 293 



INTRODUCTION, 



The late excellent and lamented Rev. Dr. F. Monod, of Paris, 
when addressing the students of the Allegheny Theological Semi- 
nary, a few years ago, remarked, that "A minister of the gospel, 
as he is true or not to his trust, is either the noblest or the most 
degraded of men. " If he have no heart in his work, — a mere ser- 
monizer, or scholiast or worldling, flippant, or perfunctory, — 
if he be a bitter disputant, as if that were, in the sense of the 
apostle, "to contend earnestly for the faith," — if he be anything 
short of a gospelizer, and a winner of souls, he so far falls short 
of the shining mark. Dan. xii. 3. It is only as one is a burning 
light, that he can be a shining one. John v. 35. 

It is a question of vital interest in what consists the proper 
power of the pulpit. Most men recognize it when they see it in 
some living example : and yet they may not be able to analyze 
the mysterious quality. Can we say, that what is called pulpit 
power is quite the same in all times, and in all cases, even in 
Whitfield and Summerfield, and Larned and Nevins, in Mel- 
ville and Chalmers ? 

There are certain essential requisites for effective and success- 
ful preaching. 

1. There must he furniture. Surely where the preaching is, in 

its main idea, a message delivered to men, everything depends 

7 



8 INTRODUCTION. 

on the matter. What is the message ? the substance of it, al- 
ways, the whole of it, first or last — what is it ? And the chief 
furniture is surely the message itself, well understood and ar- 
ranged. Familiarity with the Scripture must lie at the basis of 
all true furniture, since it is the Scripture that is to be preached. 

" All Scripture is given by inspiration of God," with all its 
profitableness, l c that the man of God may be perfect, ' ' {ready, 
c { apnos, ' ' apn. — now ! ) — thoroughly furnished — thoroughly made 
ready — (as a ship ready for the voyage) unto all good works." 

The temptation of the day in some quarters, is to a parade of 
learned disquisition, not considering that Christ crucified, is u the 
power of God, and the wisdom of God unto salvation ' ' though 
the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom. 
Paul at Athens, is the model for the time. The Scriptural 
Cosmology, and Ethnology, are to be used to point men to the 
hastening judgment of Jesus Christ as the God-man Mediator. 
And the Scripture has in itself the living germs of all truth. John 
xvii. 17. 

2. But the discourse is to be practical and direct. As this 
gospel is to be presented in its application to all the relations and 
duties of life, so it is to be brought home to the hearers. As 
11 having such hope," we are to u use great plainness (openness) 
of speech," 2 Cor. iii. 12, 13, u and not as Moses, which put a 
vail on his face," — only indirect and restricted and partial. 

The dull rehearsing of the generalities and common-places of 
Theology, as if merely to fill out the hour, is not adapted to 
move the congregation. The most brilliant essay, exhibiting 
the preacher more than Christ, can never be expected to convert 
men. It is not so calculated, nor constructed. There is a man- 
ner of preaching which the Holy Spirit recognizes as fitted to issue 
the saving results. Paul and Barnabas, in that synagogue at 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

Iconium, u so spake, (thus — in such manner, and to such 
effect) as that a great multitude, both of the Jews, and also of 
the Greeks, believed. " Acts xiv. 1. How can a drawler or a 
drone do this ? How can a learned trifler, or a frigid disputant, 
or a heartless essayist do it ? 

That "Paul may plant, and Apollos water, " without any 
power to give the increase, is no proper excuse for not copying 
Paul and Apollos as preachers of the word — nor is it any proof 
that such Apostolic preachers will not get the increase which 
God alone can give. 

3. But the directness is not fitting for the requisite effect with- 
out a tender earnestness. If the language and tone be harsh and 
dictatorial, how little does it become the service of Him who 
giveth wisdom liberally to all men, and upbraideth not ? And 
just here it is that a vital distinction must be made. Here is the 
public call for a heartiness, which gushes forth in tenderness, and 
expresses itself in loving, earnest utterances. It is needful to 
notice how the tongue of fire is yet the symbol and secret of 
ministerial success, no less than at Pentecost. There must be 
fervour. The pulpit is no place for cant Nor is it any place 
for rant. It is the place for a heart and tongue on fire with the 
love of God published in the heart by the Holy Ghost — for a glow 
such as shall be reflected upon the assembly — for an unction such 
as shall run down from the head to the garments. 

And this is a requisite which can neither be gotten from books, 
nor bought with money. A heart alive to the Divine power of 
the truth, and burning with zeal for its dissemination, must be a 
heart in direct and lively communion with God. Prayer — or 
rather prayerfulness — the praying spirit — is not this the true 
power of the pulpit ? Is not this the secret of the tongue of fire? 
— For " out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. " 



10 INTRODUCTION. 

And only such a living conviction of the truth as leads to prayer, 
and such a conviction as prayer leads to, can be the well-spring 
of the true Evangelistic zeal that is advertised for in the 
churches. 

It is herein that the great Apostle to the G-entiles makes his 
boast, that ' ' God hath qualified us ministers of the New Testa- 
ment" 2 Cor. iii. 6. God will have the living ministry, not the 
dead ministry ! The preacher must show his Divine anointing. 
This is the proper unction. The baptism of fire comes of earnest 
wrestling in prayer, as at the Pentecost — and thus occurs the 
true directness — that men hear the preacher speaking, " each in 
their own tongue, the wonderful works of God. ' ' And thus it oc- 
curs also, that ' ' the Lord adds to the church such as shall be saved. ' ' 
The whole question of discourse, of delivery, of matter, and of 
manner in the pulpit finds its best solution in this "gift of 
tongues, ' ' which is the home-preaching to every man, and in that 
language which he recognizes as his own soul's vernacular. This 
is the proper power of the pulpit 

The author of this volume of Discourses was himself a happy 
example of these high qualities ; and he illustrated, most strik- 
ingly, this combination of ministerial gifts in the pulpit at Co- 
lumbus. He was, by all admission, a man of power, because he 
was a man of furniture, and of earnestness, of tenderness, and 
of prayer. None who knew him, will deny to him this fair tri- 
bute. His sermons speak for him this testimony. They glow 
with the burnished lustre of the golden candlestick when it is 
lighted up, and glorious in the reflection of its Divine beams. 

Rich, spiritual discourse, that is also deeply intellectual, and 
shows the devotion of a strong mind to the noble themes of sal- 
vation, is the characteristic of Dr. Smith's pulpit history. 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 



The author of the sermons here presented was one 
whose praise is in all the churches amongst which his 
valued life was spent. And it seems natural to suppose 
that discourses originating in such a healthy, vigorous 
mind, and prepared with such devout care, and preached 
with so much acceptance, — though with very little of 
the grace of oratory beyond what still appears in the 
simple faith, and the earnest, affectionate spirit which 
they manifest, — should be adapted to a still wider use- 
fulness through the press. For this reason, then, the 
preparation of this volume has been suggested and un- 
dertaken. And in order that the readers of it may be 
made somewhat acquainted with the man of God who 
thus preaches to them, the leading features of his life 
and character will here be given. 

Josiah Dickey Smith was born in Western Penn- 
sylvania in the year 1815. His father, William Smith, 
was a native of Edinburgh, and at the time of the son's 

birth was married to his second wife. In the spring of 

11 



12 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

1818 he removed to Franklin county, Ohio, not far from 
Columbus, where he purchased a valuable farm, part of 
which he devoted by his will to the education of this, 
his youngest child. In the summer of 1819 the father 
died, leaving his little son to be trained up under the 
mother's pious care. As he grew up and received his 
early education at the log school-house near by, she had 
the comfort of knowing that he was a good boy, an 
amiable, open-hearted, obedient son, and possessed of a 
mind which gave promise of substantial usefulness. He 
had no equal among the boys of his own age in his 
knowledge of the Bible and the catechism, or in his 
clear perception of Divine truth ; and his schoolmates 
regarded him as a noble competitor for every honoura- 
ble distinction, and a faithful umpire in every dispute. 
But notwithstanding the hopefulness of his early years, 
his mother was taken from him when he was but sixteen 
years of age, and before he had yet become a child of 
God. In after years, however, he showed in many 
ways his grateful memory and appreciation of her ten- 
der, faithful nurture. 

In 1833 he entered college at South Hanover, Ind., 
where he was graduated in 1837. It was while he was 
a student here that he became a subject of Divine grace, 
under the influence of a powerful revival in the college, 
in 1836. This change of heart led to a change in his 
plans of life ; and, giving up his former intention to 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 13 

study law, he turned his thoughts to the work of the 
gospel ministry. Accordingly he entered the Theolo- 
gical Seminary at the same place in 1837, and finished 
his preparatory studies there in 1840.* 

In the spring of 1840, after having been licensed to 
preach the gospel, he visited the churches of Truro and 
Hamilton, in Columbus Presbytery, and in the same 
county in which his boyhood had been spent. After 
supplying these churches for a year as a probationer, 
he received a call, and was ordained to the full work of 
the ministry, Oct. 20, 1841. His two congregations 
were composed mainly of the farming population of the 
adjoining neighbourhood, among whom the " simplicity 
and godly sincerity' ' of the young pastor were held in 
very high esteem. Such plain, earnest, and powerful 
presentations of the gospel, coming from one so modest 
and so gentle, and yet so manly and uncompromising 
in his love of the truth, were well adapted to win souls 
to Christ. He laboured among them not only with a 
growing popularity, but with an increasing influence. 
In 1843 the church of Truro enjoyed a precious revival 
under his ministry, as the fruit of which some fifty per- 
sons were admitted to full communion in the course of 
a few months. Such, in fact, was the prosperity of this 

* These details as to his academic training, with some others embodied 
in this narrative, are taken from an article in "The Presbyter," signed 
" G. L. K." 
* 2 



14 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

church, that they secured the labours of their pastor for 
three-fourths of his time, and afterwards, — in 1849 or 
'50, — they obtained his undivided services. 

Under such influences as these, he was planted, and 
grew, and ripened as a Christian minister. But while 
his labours proved so acceptable as well as useful to his 
own people, his standing as a minister had become 
known in the Presbytery and elsewhere, and one so 
well fitted for eminent and more extended service in 
the church " could not be hid" in the quiet rural parish 
of Truro. He had been preaching to the same people 
for ten years when the first intimations were given that 
he must go elsewhere. The venerable Dr. James Hoge, 
who was himself as regular as any of his juniors in his 
attendance at ecclesiastical meetings, had had frequent 
opportunities for observing the development of this 
young pastor ; and finding it necessary to secure a col- 
league in the pastoral office, in order that he might be 
more at liberty to engage in the new enterprise of es- 
tablishing a Theological Seminary at Cincinnati, he 
brought the matter before his congregation, and a call 
was promptly extended to Mr. Smith. Here, then, was 
a direct appeal, not to his ambition, for this, in its ordi- 
nary sense, no one ever discovered in his character, but 
to that holy aspiration which always possessed him to 
make the most faithful and thorough use of all his ca- 
pacities for the honour of his Divine Master. Modest 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 15 

indeed he was, and disposed rather to shun than seek a 
position of any prominence in the church ; but he had, 
nevertheless, the consciousness of having an important 
trust committed to him, and in a spirit of humble, reve- 
rent obedience, his Christian manliness girded itself 
for every work that was given him to do. In such a 
spirit he accepted the call, and removed to Columbus, 
where he was installed as co-pastor, January 24, 1851. 
Here he soon attached himself to a large congregation 
by his genial, friendly deportment, and by his peculiar 
adaptation to the work of comforting and counselling 
them from house to house, no less than by the spiritual 
fervour and intellectual force which characterized all his 
public ministrations. He had not been settled long, 
however, until his spirit began to be " stirred within 
him," as he observed the gradual growth of the city, 
and how little his own church was accomplishing in the 
way of aggressive Christian effort, in comparison with 
the extended field entrusted to them. The church to 
which he ministered had become quite overgrown, and 
families which would have preferred worshipping there 
were attaching themselves to other congregations, while 
the actual means and capacities of his own people were 
in nowise developed to their natural proportions. A few 
of his hearers were at last led, by means of his stirring 
discourses, to see that some increase of church accom- 
modations ought to be provided to meet the demands of 



16 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

an increasing population; and a colony of thirty mem- 
bers prepared to go out from the old church and form a 
new organization. In committing themselves, however, 
to the responsibilities of such an enterprise, they de- 
sired to remain still under the same leader whose zeal 
had "provoked" them to such an undertaking, and he 
consented to sever his connexion with a church " where 
he was highly acceptable, and sure both of audience and 
support," and to cast in his lot with the younger and 
weaker branch. Accordingly, on the first of June, 
1854, the Westminster church was organized, and Mr. 
Smith was called to accept the pastoral charge, over 
which he was installed on the fifth of August, following. 

This little congregation secured for a temporary place 
of worship, the " theatre," of Starling Medical College, 
and for three years they continued holding their ser- 
vices in this unprepossessing place, where the pulpit was 
as if at the bottom of a great funnel, and the wall in the 
rear was hung with charts illustrative of anatomy and 
chemistry. 

But notwithstanding the unedifying aspect of the 
place itself, as respects spiritual matters, the little flock 
of Westminster went on to increase year by year, and 
members were added to them as rapidly then as at any 
time afterwards. Meantime, the work of building was 
begun, and a commodious church of stone in the Nor- 
man style of architecture was seen slowly rising from 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 17 

its foundation, and made ready for the sharp slated 
roof. The interior was finished in a neat, plain style, 
with seats of varnished pine, and with a gallery for the 
choir only ; and without waiting to complete the tower 
and spire, the church was dedicated for the worship of 
God, August 23, 1857. A few years afterwards, a 
spacious lecture-room was added in the rear of this main 
edifice, with apartments for the pastor's study, and for 
the social gatherings of the congregation. 

Thus the new and difficult enterprise was crowned 
with success. In 1861, the number of communicants 
reported to the General Assembly, showed an increase 
from the original thirty, to one hundred and thirty r , and 
by that time the church might be considered a strong 
and well-established organization. The pastor was sur- 
rounded by an efficient " staff " of officers, and by a 
bevy of helpers in every good work. His session was 
in more than an ordinary degree composed of intelli- 
gent, educated men, and they had a very high appre- 
ciation of his peculiar worth. While they could not fail 
to discern " that the oracles of God which from a child 
he had known, were the fountain from which flowed 
his peculiar power and pathos as a preacher of the 
word," they observed also how "his native vigorous 
intellect was so fully developed by patient study and 
discipline, and so richly furnished with the varied 
treasures of science and learning, and his heart so 



18 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

'filled with the Spirit,' that he was enabled to analyze, 
expound, and enforce the principles, doctrines, and 
precepts of our holy religion, with a clearness and 
purity of style, and with a power of argument and 
illustration but rarely equalled in any pulpit."* 
These are in part the words in which they have recorded, 
since his death, the sentiments of profound admiration 
with which they were known to regard him during his 
life. 

It was very seldom that Mr. Smith would undertake 
any literary labour aside from the preparation of his 
sermons. In two or three instances, however, he con- 
sented to deliver an address before some gathering of 
students, where he was heard with very great interest. 
In August 1858, he attended the commencement exer- 
cises at South Hanover, where he addressed the literary 
societies of the college on the " Conditions of Eminent 
Usefulness." This was requested for publication, and 
afterwards was inserted in Dr. Van Rensselaer's an- 
nual " Education Repository." It was at this time that 
he received from his Alma Mater the degree of " Doc- 
tor Divinitatis," a title which his friends esteemed as 
a well-merited compliment, and which he wore with re- 
markable modesty and meekness. 

In the ecclesiastical meetings, which he attended with 
conscientious regularity, Dr. Smith was always a lead- 
* Extract from record of Session, June 3, 1863. 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 19 

ing member, not because he took such a position, but 
because it was generally assigned to him. Even there 
he shrank from any notoriety, and scarcely ever made 
what could be called "a speech," satisfying himself with 
clearing up a single point, or furnishing some desired 
information; but often in a few pithy well-chosen words 
he would show how earnestly his heart was enlisted in 
whatever affected the prosperity of Zion ; and always 
at such times he displayed such fairness and good sense, 
and such freedom from all unworthy motives, that his 
opinion was possessed of great weight, and his character 
would shine out so pure, and manly, and noble, as to 
render him beloved by all. 

There was, however, a power in this servant of God, 
which nothing but the preaching of the gospel could fully 
develop. In the pulpit his mind exhibited a clearness of 
discernment, and a firmness of grasp, and a breadth of 
view, and a freedom from conventional modes of thought, 
that would often surprise those who had observed only his 
quiet unassuming demeanour. His style of address at 
the beginning, presented very few attractive points to any 
one who was not in sympathy with the character of the 
man. The singular opening and closing of the eye, the 
somewhat prolonged utterance of an occasional sentence, 
and the unusual emphasis here and there given to some 
half-concealed, and yet forcible word, might have been ac- 
counted by a casual hearer, as among his rhetorical de- 



20 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

feet, and may, perhaps, have prevented his being more 
widely known and appreciated. But to his own people, 
these were merely the signals for some clear and finely- 
drawn distinction, or some expression that savoured of 
the very richest vein of evangelical thought and feeling. 
As he went on, he brought the minds of his hearers into 
sympathy with his own, and by some touch of genuine 
tenderness would win their confidence, while with some 
powerful argument and appeal he would bring them, 
for the time at least, to feel convinced of the high claim 
which God's own word had upon their loving, lifelong 
obedience. In the pulpit, as in the private intercourse 
of life, he despised none of the accepted formulas of 
correct taste, but he made no display of his gifts, and 
sought no rhetorical effect beyond what was necessary 
to commend and enforce the exact thought which he had 
in view. The general impression made by his preaching 
was that of having been brought into sympathy with the 
most solemn and important and powerful truths that 
man can present to his fellow-man, and of having had 
them urged upon one's attention with the utmost candour' 
and tenderness, though with all the energy of a strong, 
masculine faith. 

In the social circle, no one relished congenial company 
more than Dr. Smith, and no one excelled him in enjoy- 
ing as much of the society of others as was enjoyable, and 
in letting the rest pass without any unkind remark. It 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 21 

was always wonderful to see with what natural grace 
he would put himself upon a level with his juniors and 
inferiors, manifesting no critical impatience, nor any 
conscious superiority, but listening attentively to what- 
ever might be suggested, and in whatever blundering 
fashion it might be expressed, and replying as though 
he had a rare appreciation of the thought, detecting the 
exact point, and reproducing it, all enriched with his 
own solid acquirements and ripe spiritual culture, with- 
out seeming to suppose that he had actually communi- 
cated anything of value in doing so. With a fine vein 
of humour, and a keen sense of the ridiculous, he would 
show a hearty relish of anything that provoked an 
honesty good-natured laugh. And while this contributed 
a freshness and a naturalness to his ordinary conversa- 
tion, it showed how his character retained all the cheer- 
ful, elastic, healthy spirit of his boyhood, combined with 
the noblest admiration of Divine truth, and a constant, 
devout regard to its precepts. The piety that was nur- 
tured in the holy song and earnest supplication which 
could be often overheard in his retirement, seemed to 
flow out as a full deep stream of blessings to all that 
were acquainted with him ; and every one who knew 
him could not but feel, while conversing with him, that 
he was indeed a man greatly beloved of God. 

We need not attempt here to indicate in how many 
ways such a life as his had its due influence in his own 



22 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

denomination, nor to what extent his fervent catholic 
spirit may have had its effect as "light," and "salt," 
and "leaven" upon society at large. Though the whole 
period of his regular ministry was spent within the ra- 
dius of a few miles, his love to the cause of Christ was 
one which took the widest range, and embraced all who 
rejoice in a blood-bought reconciliation. In visiting 
among his brethren, it was his "meat and drink" to 
preach "the glorious gospel of the blessed God," and 
not the least of the effects of his ministry, away from 
his own people, has been the delightful savour of the 
knowledge of Christ which was manifested by him in 
every place. 

Dr. Smith entered with a ready sympathy into all 
the practical aspects of life around him, whether relat- 
ing to the family or the community, the church or the 
nation. On the right and duty of the pulpit to set 
forth the counsel of God concerning topics of great na- 
tion^ importance, his views were very clear and decided, 
and always expressed with as much freedom from every 
thing like partisan prejudice and intolerance as could 
well be imagined. His character as a faithful servant 
of God was so conspicuous in the very act of speaking 
boldly against great national evils, that no one had the 
audacity to accuse him of being influenced by any of 
the grovelling aims of the demagogue, or by any fanati- 
cal frenzy. In the great national contest which is still 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 23 

in progress, he discerned the immense moral issues which 
lay imbedded beneath the turbulent surface, and with 
all the ardour of a Christian patriot he watched the 
shifting scene of alternate success and defeat, and in 
the darkest hours of the nation's peril could still commit 
all to Him who reigns in righteousness. During his 
last illness he was at one time told of some news that 
had just been received. As if reminded of some ne- 
glected duty, he said, u I had almost forgotten my 
country," and at once offered a fervent prayer for the 
government, making requests such as had often been 
heard from him in the sanctuary. 

It was at a time when he thought himself more than 
ever qualified to labour in his Master's vineyard, that 
he was summoned to the chamber where a long and se- 
vere illness awaited him. At first he regarded it as an 
unwelcome interruption of his labours. But as soon as 
he found his disease assuming a more serious character 
he gave heed to the warning and set his house in order, 
arranging all his affairs with calmness and precision, 
committing his family again and again to the care of a 
covenant-keeping Grod, and trusting himself to the Chief 
Shepherd whom he had served. The last sermon he 
had preached in his own church was on the 15th of 
March, 1863,— (the text was Heb. xi. 18-20),— and 
from that time for ten weeks he had occasion to exercise 
the same faith of which he then spake, " Accounting 



24 BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 

that God was able to raise him up even from the dead." 
To an inquiry from Dr. Hoge as to the ground of 
his hope; he replied, " I have examined as thoroughly 
as I could the foundation of my hope, and there I find 
my Redeemer. I love Him — I adore Him — I trust in 
Him. I am content." And on one occasion, when his 
utterance was only in the feeblest whisper, there was 
one affectionate ear that caught a few words intended 
only for the Master. " The lowest place — the lowest 
place, dear Jesus." Such a prayer was soon answered 
by the invitation, "Come up higher." He departed to 
be with Christ on the 29th of May, 1863, in the forty- 
eighth year of his age. 

" More years had made us love him more." 

To speak of the sorrow occasioned by such a death 
would require us to go beyond the home that has been 
rendered so lonely — beyond the church where a plain 
marble tablet in the rear of the pulpit, commemorates 
the ministry of " their Beloved First Pastor," — beyond 
the community and the Presbytery amongst whom so 
valuable a life was spent. In the Synod of Ohio, which 
met in October, a casual observer could not but notice 
the tenderness and deep affection which seemed to per- 
vade the body as often as this bereavement was alluded 
to. It was evident, as their own record expresses it, 
that they had "lost one of their most honoured and be- 
loved standard bearers," — one who was "cut off at the 



BIOGRAPHICAL PREFACE. 25 

very acme of his usefulness, when his mind was still de- 
veloping in intellectual robustness, as well as in the 
choicest graces of the Spirit." And still, among those 
who knew him and found it so easy to confide in his 
goodness, his name calls up a throng of tender and hal- 
lowed recollections that must live on in many hearts, ( 
till all are united with him in a more perfect companion- 
ship, and a more enduring joy. Thus blessed is the 
memory of a disciple whom Jesus loved — of a servant 
whom the Father honoured. 

" Thrice blest whose lives are faithful prayers, 
Whose loves in higher love endure ; 
What souls possess themselves so pure? 
Or is there blessedness like theirs ?" 

To the writer of the foregoing sketch, the work of 
preparing this volume for the press has been entrusted. 
After some necessary and unavoidable delay, it is now 
submitted to the Christian public for their approval, and 
it is hoped also for their edification. In the selection 
of discourses, regard has been had to variety, both in 
topics and treatment, and to the presentation of the 
intellectual and spiritual excellences of the author'.? 
mind, with the view of continuing after his death the 
precious influences of his life. May the same spirit 
which prompted these utterances pervade the hearts and 
lives of all who here peruse them. J. M. P. 

Zanesville, Ohio, March, 1864. 
3 



TRUTH IN LOVE. 



SERMON I. 

THE FRIEND OP GOD. 

James ii. 23. — And he was called the Friend of God. 

This means somewhat more than that Abraham was the friend 
of God. " This honour have all the saints." The appellation 
was bestowed on the patriarch as an especial distinction, and in 
the same pre-eminent and peculiar sense it belongs to no other 
man. 

How it was at first conferred does not appear. It may have 
been by an express and formal act of God, like that which 
changed his name from Abram to Abraham^ when he was made 
the covenant-father of a multitude ; or it may have been ac- 
corded to him by the suffrages of pious men in view of the sig- 
nally gracious relations into which he was brought with the Most 
High. 

The presumption is, perhaps, in favour of the former sugges- 
tion : but, however this may be, it amounts to the same thing, 
since the title is recognized in Scripture as justly belonging to him, 
and, in one instance at least, is directly given him by the Spirit 
of God. Assuring Israel of his everlasting favour, and speaking 
by the mouth of Isaiah, the Lord said — " Thou art my servant, 

Jacob, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abram my friend.'''' 

27 



28 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

This, however, is not the first place in Scripture where the title 
occurs. Before the days of Isaiah we find Jehoshaphat, in a 
time of danger, pleading it in prayer as an argument in behalf 
of Israel. ' l Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the in- 
habitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to 
the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever?" These passages, in 
connexion with the text, make it plain, that if this title was not 
formally given to the patriarch during his life-time, it afterwards 
obtained currency among the chosen people, and had, in the 
end, if not in the beginning, the express sanction of God. 

Under that old dispensation of Divine grace there were many 
others whose " ways pleased the Lord" — righteous Abels whose 
sacrifices he accepted — wrestling Jacobs to whose mighty importu- 
nities he yielded — Enochs and Elijahs whom for their piety he took 
up to heaven in a chariot of fire — and a Moses, with whom he talked 
face to face, as a man to his friend : yet from among all these, 
and a host of others equally deserving of mention, but one man 
obtained the honourable distinction of being called the 4 ' Friend 
of God. ' ' Between the Old Testament and the New there are 
many beautiful correspondences : and the point in hand is not 
without its parallel. In the olden times of the church there 
may have been men gifted with loftier genius and called to the 
performance of more splendid services than was this simple 
shepherd of Mesopotamia. The great hero and prophet of the 
Exodus may have outshone him in the brilliance and magnitude 
of his achievements ; and the l ' sweet Psalmist' ' of Israel — the 
man after God's own heart — may have been his superior in poetic 
inspiration; but in all those moral and spiritual endowments 
which endear a man to God, Abraham seems to have had no 
peer. Him, and him only, did Jehovah name his Friend. 

When the new economy was inaugurated, its Divine Founder 



L] THE FRIEND OF GOD. 29 

called to service and favour a company of men variously gifted 
with intellectual and spiritual qualities. Peter is always named 
first in the catalogue of the apostles, and though he certainly 
was not invested with the primacy, as Romanists pretend, he 
was a man of position and great excellence of character. And 
far above him and all the rest, in learning, genius, and eloquence, 
soared the great apostle of the Gentiles. Both of these were 
men greatly endeared to the Saviour ; yet neither of them was 
" the disciple whom Jesus loved." This honour was assigned to 
the loving John, whose distinguishing excellence was spiritual 
rather than intellectual. Under the old economy, which in its 
characteristic spirit was one of promise and preparation, requir- 
ing men to believe in and hope for a future good, the man of 
pre-eminent faith was "the Friend of God." Under the New, 
whose great characteristic fact was the actual appearance of 
Israel's hope and consolation, and in this, the most glorious and 
touching display of God's love to the world, the disciple who 
1 'dwelt in love" was its most exact and complete type, and he 
it was whom Jesus suffered to rest on his bosom and received to 
the embrace of his peculiar love. Before Christ came in the 
flesh, those servants of God pleased him best who looked with 
most assurance for the fulfilment of the Divine promises ; now 
that he has come, those disciples are the especial favourites of 
Heaven who thank, love, and serve him most for his unspeak- 
able gift : and thus there is set before us all an open door into 
which we may enter and attain to this high and blessed distinc- 
tion ; for, says Jesus, " Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I 
command you. ' ' 

And though each of us may not be visibly singled out from 
the midst of others, as were Abraham and John, and formally 

named the friends of Jesus and of God, this high and holy 
3* 



30 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

honour is conferred without exception on those who give their 
hearts and bow their knees to the Lord Jesus Christ. * c Hence- 
forth I call you not servants, but I have called you friends" 

The title is descriptive both of character and privilege. It im- 
poses duty and it confers dignity. Friendship is in its nature 
mutual. It gives as well as takes : and the proverb that l ' he 
who hath friends must show himself friendly" applies not less 
to the spiritual and Divine relationship of which we now speak, 
than to the earthly and human friendships of which it is the re- 
cognized law and condition. The friendship of God and his 
people is reciprocal. In the sense of the text, he is not the 
Friend of any but those who are friendly to him. There is, 
however, a vital difference between the attitude of the parties. 
The love is now mutual, but it was not so at first. We did not 
purchase nor win his love toward us by the demonstration of 
ours to him. It was just the other way. ' ' We love Him be- 
cause He first loved us." By the greatness of the love where- 
with He loved us even when we were dead in sins. He conquered 
our enmity and gained our affections, and thus, while in the be- 
ginning, the love was all on one side, it is now both mutual and 
cordial, and with full consent the holy God and redeemed sin- 
ners have entered into a solemn league of perpetual friendship. 

1. It presents, in the first place, the aspect of duty ; and we may 
occupy a few moments in noticing the character of those who 
are admitted to the dignity and happiness of being made and 
called the " Friends of God." 

The apostle tells us, in very express terms, that the bestow- 
ment of this privilege upon Abraham was vitally connected with 
his character and conduct, and particularly with the obedience of 
faith. u And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith, Abra- 
ham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteous- 



I.] THE FRIEND OF GOD. 31 

ness, and lie was called the Friend of God." Ver. 23. The 
Scripture here referred to and quoted, describes the faith which 
Abraham reposed in the promise of a numerous seed, at a time 
and in circumstances which rendered the fulfilment of the pre- 
diction a natural impossibility. There was nothing for sense or 
reason to work on, and he was shut up to pure and absolute 
faith in God : and nobly did he sustain the trial. " And being 
not weak in faith, he considered not" — the natural impossibili- 
ties which seemed to fetter Omnipotence, "and staggered not 
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, 

giving glory to God ."* The peculiar significance of this 

case is, that while it involved a severe trial of faith, it involved 
nothing more. It did not jeopard his interests, or wound his 
feelings, or require him to do anything, except just to believe m 
the power and faithfulness of God. This he did, and the exam- 
ple is put on record for the instruction and the admiration of 
the world. "It was not written for his sake alone that it was 
imputed to him ; but for us also to whom it shall be imputed, 
if we believe on Him who raised up Jesus our Lord from the 
dead. " And this gives us implicit faith in the promises of God^ 
as the first characteristic of Abraham's spiritual seed, and heirs 
with him of the Divine friendship. 

And the second is like, namely this, the faith which shows 
itself in unswerving obedience to the Divine commands. In the 
context, the apostle James is arguing with holy indignation 
against those professors of Christianity who rested their hope of 
justification and salvation on an intellectual, barren, and dead 
faith in the facts and doctrines of the gospel, and perverted the 
Pauline doctrine of ' c justification by faith, without the deeds of 
the law." 

* Rom. iv. 19-21. 



32 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

Of this doctrine Abraham was brought forward as the most 
illustrious example and proof. It is highly instructive and spe- 
cially interesting to observe how the apostle James meets and 
corrects this perversion of a great truth. He does not contra- 
dict Paul's doctrine ; he does not, in fact, supplement it by 
teaching anything which that apostle had omitted : and so far 
from conceding that the case of Abraham gave any countenance 
to the formalists who hung their cause upon it, he boldly brings 
the patriarch forward as the most conspicuous pattern of an 
obedient, working, fruitful faith which the annals of redemption 
record. His faith, unlike that of these pretenders, not only 
believed promises, but obeyed commands: and the latter, at 
least in Abraham's case, was the harder of the two. It was 
hard to reason and sense to believe the promise of a son in his 
old age ; it was no less difficult to reason, and infinitely harder 
to feeling, to sacrifice that son of promise, at God's command, 
for u a burnt-offering to the Lord. ' ' Never was there such a 
mandate given to a servant of the Most High : and the manner 
in which he bowed to it, stands and will stand till \he end of 
time to challenge the admiration and excite the wonder of the 
world ! Though the command appeared to be at war with the 
Divine character, and inconsistent with the Divine promises, 
and violative of the tenderest and most sacred affections of the 
human heart, he asked not a question, he uttered not a word, 
he delayed not a moment, but went quietly forward under the 
naked power of the one supreme conviction that Grod, in all 
things, must be trusted and obeyed ! 

He has reached the designated hill. The altar is built in sad 
and solemn silence. Taken and bound by paternal hands, the 
son of promise and prayer, more comely and endeared than ever 
before, awaits the fatal stroke ! 



I.] THE FRIEND OF GOD. 33 

The sacrificial knife gleams in the sun-light, and, to all intents 
and purposes, the command is as thoroughly obeyed as if the 
life-blood of Isaac had run down on the altar, and the fire had 
consumed his body to ashes. At the critical moment, the angel 
of the Lord arrested him, and said, ' ' By myself have I sworn, 
that in blessing I will bless thee — and in thy seed shall all the 
families of the earth be blessed : because thou hast obeyed my 
voice. ' ' It was not simply faith, but the obedience of faith, which 
crowned the c ' father of the faithful' ' with everlasting honour, 
and, as the apostle intimates, secured for him the title of which 
we speak : " Seest thou, how faith wrought with his works, and 
by works was faith made perfect ?" as a cause is seen to be 
perfect in its effect. "And the Scripture was fulfilled, which 
saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for 
righteousness : and he was called the Friend of God. ' ' 

And thus we have a vivid representation of those qualities and 
characteristics which, above others, please God and win the to- 
kens of his peculiar love : and though this sublime example of 
heroic faith may chide our unbelief, and rather quench than 
kindle the hope of successful emulation, it is comforting to know 
that ' ' like precious faith' ' in hind, is possessed by every true 
child of God, and that it is not only within the compass of possi- 
bility, but plainly within the range of our duty and privilege, so 
to have our faith ' l increased, ' ' that we shall implicitly believe 
every Divine promise, and bow in willing obedience to every 
Divine command : and when this attainment is made, each of us 
shall be esteemed and treated, even if we are not Ci called" the 
" Friend of God." 

Unlike man, God is " no respecter of persons." His friend- 
ship is not determined by considerations of birth, or position, or 
talents, or learning, but is absolutely and in every case controlled 



34 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

by spiritual excellence ; and that — thanks be to his gracious and 
holy name — is within the reach of the weakest saint Trembling, 
downcast, sorrowful Christian, thou mayest be as dear and lie as 
close to the heart of Infinite Love, as any who occupy the high- 
est places in church and state. Nay — what hinders thee from 
resting with John himself in the bosom of Jesus? Nothing 
hinders thee, but thy own unbelief and disobedience, for, has he 
not said, — "If any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will 
come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. "* And 
" if a man love me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love 
him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. ' ' 

For any of us here present, to aspire to the especial friend- 
ship of Queen Victoria, Louis Napoleon, or some of those per- 
sons who reign as kings in the Republic of letters, besides being 
a piece of ridiculous vanity, would be to attempt a simple im- 
possibility. 

But what is impossible to get from men is more than possible 
to obtain from God. It is not presumption and folly, but the 
duty and privilege of every one of us, to aspire to the intimate 
acquaintance and eternal friendship of the Sovereign of all worlds ! 
And this, as we shall now, secondly, proceed to show, is a bless- 
ing worthy of our most fervent desires and highest ambition. 

And I think it is this aspect of the subject which is most pro- 
minently suggested in the text. It seems to be set forth, not 
only or mainly as the character of Abraham, but rather as his 
privilege and distinction that he was called " the Friend of God. 11 
It involves much — in fact, comprehends everything, even as the 
promise in the covenant that was made with him — " I will be a 
God to thee," said everything in a single word. 

1. The peculiar value and preciousness of the privilege depend 
* Rev. iii. 20. 



I.] THE FRIEND OF GOD. 35 

essentially on the character of the being whose friendship the 
Christian enjoys. 

To weak and dependent natures like ours, made up so much 
of wants, and sorrows, and sympathies, friendship is quite in- 
dispensable. Not alone in the sentiment and poetry of youthful 
minds, but in soberest reality, human friendship is felt to be the 
best of earthly blessings. A thought more bitter, a feeling more 
oppressive, never passes through the heart, than that we are 
without the love and sympathy of others ! Ethereal and spi- 
ritual though it be — rather, just because it is so — the sincere 
and manifested friendship of a fellow-creature goes direct to the 
heart, and mightily helps us, in our greatest sorrows and hea- 
viest burdens. At such an hour it is prized more than gold, 
even as it is a commodity which gold cannot buy. Sincere friend- 
ship is very precious, whether it be shown by those above, be- 
low, or on an equality with ourselves. God's friendship, in its 
general nature, resembles that which mortal men feel for one 
another, since it is only by means of this experience which 
passes within our own bosoms, that we rise to the conception of 
a corresponding attribute in the Godhead. But while this is so, 
the infinite difference and distance between God and men re- 
quire that we should ascribe qualities and attributes to his friend- 
ship as much superior to ours, as in all other respects, God is 
above man. Even in its best estate human friendship partakes 
of human frailty — at the very least, it is always subject to the 
limitations of human weakness. Man's heart, in contrast with 
God's, is as a cistern to the boundless ocean ; and man's hand, 
even when moved by warmest friendship, unlike God's, is 
1 ' shortened that it cannot' ' bestow the needed benefaction : and 
it is in reference to the point now in hand, that the High and Holy 
One himself— proclaims — " My thoughts are not your thoughts, 



36 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

— neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the 
heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than 
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts/' 

There is not a single attribute of friendship in which God's is 
not infinitely greater and better than man's. It is more true. 
He professes much, and feels all he professes. It is not always 
so with men. Their protestations of friendship are sometimes 
heartless, and even when earnest, are apt to conceal a large infu- 
sion of selfishness. Their kind offices come to an end whenever 
they cease to be remunerated. The most of what passes current 
under the name of friendship is the base metal of selfishness, 
thinly gilded over with the courtesies of social life : and a true 
friend^ who sticketh closer than a brother, is indeed a treasure, 
rare as he is precious. Such a friend is God. He loves truly, 
deeply, tenderly, infinitely, and for ever ! The jealousies, and 
mutations of earth, which so often "separate chief friends, " and 
leave but the memories of broken ties, never touch the relations 
of amity and concord which Jehovah has established between 
himself and the people of his covenant and his care. 

Not even that common and sure destroyer of earthly friend- 
ship — the ingratitude and forgetfulness of its objects — shall ever 
occasion the end or abatement of his. As he bestowed it at first 
without merit in its recipients, moved by his own compassion 
and good pleasure alone, so for the same reason he continues it 
from age to age, even i ' to everlasting, ' ' and one of its most 
blessed exhibitions is seen in the patience with which it endures 
the ungrateful returns we make, and the pains it takes to hold 
us in its kind embraces. "The mountains shall depart, and the 
hills be removed ; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, 
neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the 
Lord that hath mercy on thee. ' ' 



L] THE FRIEND OF GOD. 37 

2. Descending from the consideration of the essential attri- 
butes of the Divine friendship, we find many elements of value 
and endearment in its particular fruits and manifestations. 
Friendship among men, implies mutual confidence and confiden- 
tial communications. In proportion to its depth and intimacy 
will be the freedom and the frequency of this communion : and, 
though no material and substantial advantage is given or re- 
ceived, there is no one privilege of friendship more valued. It 
is the honour and joy of the Christian to be made, as it were, 
the confidant of "God : ( ' The secret of the Lord is with them that 
fear him/ ' And, said Jesus to his disciples — "Henceforth I 
call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord 
doeth : but I have called you friends ; for all tilings that I have 
heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." 

A signal example of this peculiar phase of the friendship of 
God, occurs in the history of Abraham himself. For the 
wickedness of Sodom, the Lord had determined to destroy it : 
and without interference or question from man or angel, he 
might have proceeded at once to execute the righteous decree. 
But he did not. There was one man who stood in peculiar re- 
lation both to the guilty city and to its holy Judge. Him, Je- 
hovah remembered, and said — " Shall / hide from Abraham 
that thing which I do ?" The connexion shows that the con- 
sideration which moved the Lord to make the disclosure of his 
purpose, existed in the character and covenant-relation which the 
patriarch sustained. The alliance and the amity were too close to 
allow concealment. This obedient believer must be apprised of 
the peril which threatened the city where Lot his kinsman 
dwelt. The sequel of intercession and deliverance you know. 

And thus the Lord dealeth with all his friends. New revela- 
tions he may not give you, nor disclose unsearchable mysteries 



38 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

in which you have no interest, but his tenderest and deepest 
thoughts of love, he will reveal, and give you those " manifesta- 
tions' ' of his friendship which the world cannot receive, and, in 
due time, when you shall have " overcome" by the blood of the 
' * Lamb, ' ' and the power of his grace, he will give you to eat of 
the ' c hidden manna, ' ' and entrust to you c ' a white stone, and 
in the stone, a new name written which no man knoweth, saving 
he that receiveth it. ' ' So intimately and profoundly confidential 
is the intercourse of Grod with the souls whom he loves and 
blesses with his friendship. 

It is a further attribute of true friendship, and pre-eminently 
so of God's, that its attentions and benefactions are multiplied the 
most in time of our greatest necessity. The homeliness of the pro- 
verb should not cause us to discard it in this connexion: — u A 
friend in need, is a friend indeed. ' ' 

This is the test of all profession. The sorrow, the necessity 
which exposes and repels the false, attracts the true; and a 
man's real friends, like the brothers of his flesh, are "born for 
adversity. ' ' They fly to him in his distress. And such is the 
friendship of Grod. At all times near, he is a "very present 
help in trouble. ' ' Not quite sure that our friends may not re- 
gard our drafts on their kind offices too heavy or too frequent, 
we study to avoid the application, and spare them as far as pos- 
sible : but God says, ' ' Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I 
will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me," by seeking my as- 
sistance, and relying to the uttermost on my salvation. That 
was a true testimony which Eliphaz bore to the character of 
God, when seeking to console the man of Uz, he said — " Behold, 
happy is the man whom Grod correcteth ; therefore, despise not 
thou the chastening of the Almighty. For he maketh sore, and 
bindeth up, he woundeth, and his hands make whole. He shall 



L] THE FRIEND OF GOD. 39 

deliver thee in six troubles ; yea, in seven, there shall no evil 
touch thee." 

Suffer we may in the flesh and in the spirit ; and our sorrows, 
like Job's, while having their root in sin, may have their com- 
mission from God ; but they do not prove either the want or 
the weakness of his love. Rather they are its clearest proofs 
and dearest pledges. " Faithful are the wounds of a, friend." 
Those are our best friends, and should be so esteemed, who 
labour with humility and charity to correct our faults and im- 
prove our character. There are hundreds of persons who would 
rather give us money, or visit us in affliction, or weep with us 
in bereavement, than utter one humble, kind, faithful word for 
such a purpose as this. Only the truest and best of friends can 
do it. Harsh and proud complaints are plentiful ; tender admo- 
nitions are rare, and are often the greatest favour which it is 
possible to confer. And in this matter we should judge of God 
as we do of one another. The smarting rod and the soothing 
whispers of his Spirit are expressions of the same love, and 
there is not a whit less of friendship in the one than in the 
other. 

Friendship delights to increase tJie happiness by promoting the 
advantage and honour of its objects. 

A person in the possession of riches and the enjoyment of 
place and power, is accustomed and expected to provide for his 
friends. He secures them positions, and exerts his influence to 
advance their interests. The friendship of God reveals itself in 
similar manifestations; and in view of his resources and his 
power, what may we not expect? What he has to give, that 
he wiU give — the adoption of sons—the inheritance of heirs — 
the honour and elevation of kings and priests. Now, for then- 
own good, and because the purposes of God toward the world 



40 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

require it, they are kept under tutors and governors, and ap- 
pointed to live in obscurity. But a day is ordained and hasten- 
ing on for their glorious manifestation. Then he will publicly 
own them as his friends — will call them his " jewels" — and will 
satisfy his own love and theirs by taking them to his bosom 
for ever. With the friendship of God, now and to all eternity, 
what more does the Christian need? Beloved, rest satisfied 
with your portion. Why lament the loss of a drop, when the 
ocean of God's unchangeable and infinite love remains? If you 
had not another friend in the universe, He is enough. i l Whom 
have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none upon earth that I 
desire besides thee. My flesh and my heart faileth : but God is 
the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever. ' ' 

It is sad to think and say that the relations existing between 
some of us and God are not those of friendship. It is beyond 
contradiction that some of you dc not act a friendly part toward 
God. You spurn his authority — yo** Jisohey his commands — you 
refuse his salvation. 

In the circumstances of the case, this open hostility betrays 
an unfriendly heart : and so far from being God's friends, you 
are his "enemies;" and so he accounts and calls you. This 
wicked enmity of yours to God necessitates on his part a holy 
opposition to you : and, in this respect, so far from being your 
friend, he is your adversary. 

But notwithstanding this, he is willing to be reconciled; and 
with an ambassage of peace I am now come to you. ' ' Now, 
then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech 
you by uf : we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to 
God." "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace: 
thereby good shall come unto thee. 



II. I THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 41 



SERMON II. 

THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 

Luke xii. 27. — Consider the Lilies. 

Some men walk through the world with eyes shut, seeing 
nothing and learning nothing. Persons, things, events with 
which they come in contact, are not studied — are hardly con- 
ceived of with any distinctness, and are, of course, forgotten. 
Others, from natural aptitude and from habit, not only see, but 
observe what passes. They note the causes and the consequences, 
the peculiarities and the relations of actions and events, and 
acquire a fund of practical philosophy, which is of the highest 
value in the affairs of life. That which is thus seen to be our 
wisdom, in relation to the interests of earth, becomes, in the 
higher sphere of religion, a duty. 

God reveals himself in the books of Nature and of Revelation, 
and the same Divine Messenger who bids us ' ' Search the Scrip- 
tures, ' ' gives this other command — ' l Consider the lilies. ' ' These 
books are emanations from the same source — rays from the same 
sun — and if one shines with a fuller blaze, it is no reason why 
the mild radiance or the single beam of the other should be des- 
pised. c ' There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of 
the moon, and another glory of the stars," but all alike borrow 

their glory from the "Father of lights.' ' 
4* 



42 tkuth in love. [Ser 

Inviting us to study the lilies, the Saviour only mates a spe- 
cial application of the general duty of considering the works of 
God. It is an act of piety, and a source of pure delight. ' c The 
works of the Lord are great ; sought out of all them that have 
pleasure therein. ' ' The consideration of them which is incul- 
cated in Scripture, is an exercise of devout meditation, which 
beholds God in his works, sees the Creator in the creature, and 
rises through the visible and the material, up to the unseen, 
the spiritual and the eternal. 

Many consider the works of Grod in another manner, and for a 
different purpose. The man of science studies nature not as the 
workmanship of Grod, but precisely as a mechanic would study a 
curious machine which the hand of man had constructed, or as 
an artist would view a piece of statuary which human genius and 
skill had conceived and chiseled. Such a man sees nothing but 
matter and its laws ; and instead of ascending through nature 
up to nature's Grod, many a naturalist loses himself in the laby- 
rinth of that Divine mechanism which needs only the recognition 
of a living and personal Creator to reduce it all to perfect unity 
and order, and to make it radiant with the beauty of the Lord. 

There is certainly no inconsistency between the scientific study 
of nature, and the exercise of faith and devotion. The natural 
sciences, as Botany, Geology, and Astronomy, furnish number- 
less and obvious proofs of creative power, and skill, and good- 
ness ; and nothing can account for the fact that the student of 
Nature fails to recognize and worship God, but that the human 
soul is c ' out of chord' ' with the harmonies of the universe. 
The study of nature tends to piety, and the Scriptures invite to 
it. The man of deepest learning and widest acquaintance with 
the works of God will, most likely, believe the teachings of 
Scripture, because he sees the harmony of nature and revelation. 



II.] THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 43 

Professor Henry of the Smithsonian Institute, is reported to 
have said that he knew but one thoroughly scientific man in the 
United States, who was an avowed Infidel. " An undevout as- 
tronomer is mad. ' ' The man of sound mind and of right heart 
will rather exclaim with the Shepherd of Bethlehem — "When 
I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers ; the moon and 
the stars, which thou hast ordained ; what is ■ man, that thou 
art mindful of him ? Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy 
name in all the earth ! ' ' 

While this transition from the study of nature as a Science, to 
the religious consideration of it, as a manifestation of God, is 
easy and natural, it is not necessary ; and we advert to the differ- 
ence, just to mark the various grades of interest and points of 
view from which men look, in studying the works of God. In 
some respects, the scientific study is the lowest. Next above this, 
is that admiration and enjoyment of nature which is experienced 
by persons endowed with poetic sensibility, and indeed by almost 
all persons at some period and in some circumstances of their 
lives. The dullest eye will brighten, and the coldest heart 
awake from its torpor, and rise from the routine of its common- 
places, when the beautiful, the grand, the majestic, or the terri- 
ble in nature is suddenly presented : and some minds of exqui- 
site sensibility will dwell on scenes of material loveliness and 
splendour, with a tenderness of feeling, and a mysterious depth 
of emotion, and with blending and changing shades of thought, 
which no language, not even the dialect of loftiest poetry can ex- 
press. The soul's response and sympathy in thus communing 
with nature in her varied forms of mild beauty, and majestic 
greatness, and terrible grandeur, bears a certain resemblance to 
piety and worship ; and we admit that it is far higher and purer 
and more ennobling to the spirit, than the lower studies of na- 



44 truth in love. [Ser. 

tural science, which analyzes nature, and exhibits the bony ske- 
leton of her naked laws ; and which does even this for the mate- 
rial uses to which her laws and forces may be applied. But we 
must remind you that admiration of nature is a very different 
thing from adoring the God of nature. Dissevering the crea- 
ture from the Creator, it is, at the best, a species of refined ido- 
latry, which, like the ancient heathenism, burns incense to the gods 
of the mountains and the valleys, the groves and the streams, and 
adores the sun, the moon, and the stars, rather than the eter- 
nal and invisible God, who is above all, and through all, and in 
them all. In point of historical fact, idolatry had this precise 
origin. Not liking to retain the knowledge of a holy and per- 
sonal God, the Ruler and Judge of men, and yet not able, and 
perhaps not willing, to relinquish all conception and belief of a 
Deity, men began by substituting for the invisible divinity, the 
greatest and most beneficent of his works, and ended the back- 
ward and downward movement, by worshipping " four-footed 
beasts, and creeping things. ' ' It would thus appear that the 
admiration and enjoyment of nature is not necessarily a religious 
sentiment : and those dreaming spirits deceive themselves, who 
put the excitement of their natural sensibilities in the stead of 
that devotion which makes the beautiful and the grand in na- 
ture mere stepping-stones for its ascent to the throne of God. 
The study of nature, to which the Saviour invites us, has express 
regard to the relation which all material things sustain to the 
Author of nature. The study of the lily as it is in itself, is bo- 
tany ; the study of it as it stands related on the one side to God, 
who made it, and on the other to man, for whom it is made, is 
natural theology. i ' Consider the lilies, ' ' not for the beauty they 
possess, but for that beauty as an adornment given them by a 
Divine hand. It is God who " so clothes the lilies." Hence 



II.] THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 45 

their capacity and power to become our teachers. It is relation- 
ship to God that gives everything its meaning, and from this 
point of view must its significance and purpose be studied. 

Descending from these generalities, we may remark the ex- 
quisite finish and perfection of the lily. The Scriptures tell us 
that the Son of God, who bids us consider the lilies, is their 
Maker. He is more than willing that his work should be scru- 
tinized. It will bear inspection, and the severest test which 
even the microscope applies reveals no fault nor coarseness in 
the Divine workmanship. Not so with the creations of human 
skill ! The most perfect thing which man ever made was nDt 
absolutely faultless. No book that was ever written, no picture 
ever painted, no house ever built, was in every minutest par- 
ticular above criticism. The limitation and weakness of the crea- 
ture is impressed on all that man does : and in like manner the 
signature of an infinitely wise and Almighty God is written on 
all his works, the least not less than the greatest. £ ' As for 
God, his work is perfect. " c c Nothing can be put to it, nor 
anything taken from it ; and God doeth it that men should fear 
before him. ' ' There are not, in all the universe, any unfinished 
works of God, nor any abandoned relics of experiments that did 
not succeed, nor is there any single thing which develops accord- 
ing to the law impressed by him, that is not perfect in its kind. 
The infinite and unapproachable godhead of the Creator is seen 
in the absolute completeness and perfection of his works. Not 
only cannot men suggest any improvement in anything he has 
made, but the highest achievements of their genius and art con- 
sist in a feeble imitation of the Divine patterns which are set 
before them in nature. How impotent is man to create a lily ! 
What a botch is his best imitation ! Without life, without fra- 
grance, without growth. So true is the poet's lines — 



46 truth in love. [Ser. 

" There's not a flower 
But shows, in freckle, streak, or stain, the marks 
Of his unrivalled pencil." 

Coming nearer to the specific theme of the text, we may 
i ' Consider the lilies' ' as flowers, and gather the lessons taught 
by their exquisite beauty. It is an obvious though very impor- 
tant remark of Dr. Paley , that Grod might have made this world 
far different from what it is, and yet made it good enough to 
support the human race in mere existence. Every touch might 
have been a sting, every sound a discord, and yet men might 
have existed. In that case, natural theology would have given 
us little or no proof of the Divine benevolence. But how differ- 
ent is the world in point of fact ! 

Beyond what is necessary, Grod has given what is comfortable ; 
and above what is comfortable, he has added that which deco- 
rates the world and gratifies that sense of the beautiful which 
he has inwrought with our mental constitution. How pure this 
pleasure is, and how linked with our proper nature, is shown by 
the fact, that when Grod had made man in his own image, he 
placed him in a garden of material delights, where was found 
not only every tree that was good for food, but such as were 
c ' pleasant to the eye. ' ' Eden was decked with flowers, and when 
the sinless pair walked amid its aromatic groves, and regaled 
their senses with the fragrance they diffused, the incense of 
their devotions went up with more buoyant joy and holier grati- 
tude. Our minds are familiarized with the argument for the 
Being and Character of Grod, which is derived from the palpable 
Vjses which are accomplished by the objects and the order of na- 
ture. The goodness of Grod in the shining sun, and the falling 
rain, and the flowing river, and the changing seasons, is recog- 



II.] THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 47 

nized because it is so obvious. Not happiness alone, but life 
depends on these benign arrangements. 

The use of the beautiful, which the Divine Architect has la- 
vished on all his works, is not so manifest and obtrusive ; it is 
more spiritual and subtle : yet who can for a moment doubt that 
the very same wisdom and love which placed the burning and 
glorious sun in the firmament are concerned in the creation of 
every insect that basks in his beams, and every flower that un- 
folds its petals to his light? 

What, then, are the divine lessons that we read in the beauty 
of the lily? And first of all, the inquiry starts, does it teach us 
aught of the nature and character of God as he is in himself? 
Why does beauty emanate from God? Is it not because the ar- 
chetype and ideal of beauty is in his own eternal mind? And 
all the material loveliness of the universe is but the efllux of 
what, from everlasting, was in the Creator. From the fact that 
God created man in his own pure image, we justly infer that he 
loves, and, to speak as men, admires the beauty of holiness : 
and may we not, by the self-same logic, reverently adopt the 
conclusion that the Maker of the flowers admires the beautiful 
creation of his own hands? 

If any feel as if this were treading on questionable ground, we 
will not press the suggestion, and proceed to another in which 
all will agree : The beauty of the lilies, and of all the floral king- 
dom, and indeed, of all the visible creation, is an evidence of 
God's paternal kindness, and of his desire that his creatures should 
have a happy and delighted existence. 

The beauty of nature makes a large contribution to the sum 
of our enjoyment, and would make more, if we entered more 
fully into the design of God. The lowest view of this argument 
is that which has respect to the mere gratification of sense which 



48 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

is derived from the fragrant odour and stainless beauty of the 
flowers. This delighted sensation is of no small value as an ar- 
gument for the Divine benevolence, when it is considered how 
easy it would have been to Almighty power to have left all na- 
ture bare and barren of these adornments, and to have doomed 
us to pass through life without ever being permitted to gaze on 
the beauty or to inhale the scent of flowers. If no higher use 
were assigned them, the lilies were not made in vain. But have, 
they not a nobler ministry, and are they not capable of impart- 
ing a higher good than the momentary sensation they excite ? 
In the absence of express revelation on the subject, we infer the 
use for which anything is made from its nature and adaptations. 
For what use the fields wave with yellow grain, and the giant 
oak bares its head in the forest, and the orchards bend with 
luscious fruit, we know from the fitness of each and all. And in 
like manner we may know from their natural adaptation as well 
as from their experienced effect, for what end God has garnished 
the earth with flowers. Through that sense of the beautiful 
which he has given us, they speak to the heart, and have a pe- 
culiar power over the affections. Is there not a profound con- 
nexion between the beautiful in nature, and the beautiful in 
manners, and in morality, yea, and the higher beauty of holiness ? 
Does not the fragile nature and texture of the lily, the grace 
of whose fashion perishes in a day, and cannot bear the touch of 
rudeness, directly teach us the lesson of gentleness ? and its robe 
of stainless white, the lesson of purity? With their meek 
modesty and quiet loveliness, flowers seem in natural affinity with 
" whatsoever things are pure and lovely, and of good report," 
and the "fruit of the Spirit which is love, joy, and peace," 
might be thought to flourish best, in those whose hearts are in 
unison with their sweet influences and suggestions. 



II.] THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 49 

Iii a word, flowers are clothed with a moral power, and are 
appointed to a humble ministry to our intellectual and spiritual 
nature. 

This point is so admirably put by another, that you will more 
than pardon the quotation of his eloquent words: "Here is 
more than infinite skill. Here is a moral power. Here is an 
appeal to the most delicate susceptibilities of my soul. Here is 
a voice to my heart. As adjuncts, and scarlet-robed attendants 
of religion, these things are adapted to elevate my affections, and 
to educate my nature for the scenery of heaven. Let none mis- 
understand : nature is not revelation : beauty is not piety ; taste 
is not holiness. Let India, and South America, and Bishop He- 
ber witness to this : — 

"What though the spicy breezes 
Blow soft o'er Ceylon's isle, 
Though every prospect pleases, 
And only man is vile ?" 

Still I do affirm that the ministry of the beautiful is a reality ; 
flowers have a mission, and the lesson of the lilies is one which 
Christian hearts will always love to study."* 

The force of this argument is enhanced by the consideration 
that man has lost the primeval holiness in which he was created, 
and has been driven from the Paradise in which he was placed. 

For his sake the world was cursed, so that it should bring forth 
thorns and briers, the remembrancers of his sin, to pain and 
trouble him. But surely, it is a significant fact, and not without 
the germ of a blessed hope, that the earth on the face of which 
he was sent abroad was not so blasted with the curse of Heaven, 
that its every aspect should frown the wrath of God upon him, 
and sink him in despair. If Paradise were never to be regained, 
the cherubim with flaming sword might have been seen in every 
* Rev. F. G. Clark, of New York. 



50 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

object that met the eye : but instead of this, what do we behold ? 
The flowers bloom on every field, and by every dwelling, and 
even * { waste their sweetness on the desert air," where not even 
the wandering Arab inhales their fragrance, or observes their 
beauty. The roses bloom amid the very thorns that sting us 
while we gather them ; and what is the significance of this ? Is 
it not that the earth is not irredeemably cursed ? and that man 
is not abandoned of God, but is dealt with in a way of mercy for 
his recovery ; and this, moreover, by the ministry of ten thou- 
sand agencies, from the mighty angels who camp around the just, 
to the lily of the field, which breathes to-day its gentle lesson, 
and to-morrow fades for ever ? 

That flowers do sustain such relations and fulfil such a minis- 
try to the spiritual nature of man, is in agreement with the typi- 
cal significance ascribed to them in the word of God. They are 
fit types of moral heauty and Divine grace, and are so used by 
the Spirit of inspiration. The first and highest use of the lily, 
is to image the beauty, and glory, and fragrant grace of the 
Lord Jesus Christ, who, in the gorgeous symbolism of that 
Song of songs, declares — "I am the Rose of Sharon, and the 
Lily of the Valley." 

The image is infinitely below the glorious original; yet, ad- 
dressed as it is to sense and to our inner sense of the beautiful, 
it conveys a vivid conception of Him whose name is as ointment 
poured forth. Portraying, in a special aspect, the character of 
the Divine pattern to which all Christians are conformed, the 
lily is also a scriptural emblem of the church. Believers have 
the same mind which was also in Him, and hence, u to express 
their residence in the world, and how he values them above 
others," he says — " As the lily among thorns, so is my love 
among the daughters. ' ' 



II. ] THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 51 

And there is yet another relation in which they stand to Jesus. 
It is expressed in the words of his admiring Bride, the church : 
"My Beloved is gone down into his garden, to the beds of 
spices, to feed in the gardens, and to gather lilies. ' ' What can 
this be? The owner of a flower-garden cultivates it for him- 
self; he goes into it to inhale its sweet odours, and if he plucks 
a lily, it is to bring it nearer to himself, to carry it with him, 
and, perhaps, to weave it into a coronal of beauty, that, in its 
new setting, it may be the more admired and the more enjoyed. 
You can interpret the parable. 

The Saviour came into his garden when he entered the con- 
gregation of his saints and the families of his redeemed, and 
took to himself at one time the buds of promise which had en- 
shrined themselves in our affections ; and again, those expanded 
flowers which had fulfilled their mission below, and were ready 
to be transferred to the brighter skies and balmier air where 
they might bloom for ever. Murmur not : He took them, whose 
they are, and he will restore them when he comes to garner the 
ripe harvest of the world. Then every flower that ever bloomed 
in the garden of his grace below, will find its appropriate place 
and use in the Paradise above. And this reminds us that 
heaven is pictured as a place of surpassing beauty, through 
whose broad avenues there flows the crystal river, on whose 
banks grows the tree of life, which yieldeth her fruit every 
month, and whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. 
An Eden of sensible delights, and much less a Mohammedan or 
Pagan Elysium of carnal lusts, is not the heaven prepared for 
the redeemed who shall follow the Lamb on the celestial plains : 
yet it is certain that in that glorious world the redeemed from 
among men will be clothed with bodies, and their dwelling will 
be a place; and why should we doubt that their sense of the 



52 truth in love. [Ser. 

beautiful, which God now cultivates and makes an instrument 
of their renewal, will find its perfect and ceaseless gratification 
in the material glory and loveliness of their eternal abode ? 

There yet remains to be noticed the lesson which the Saviour 
deduces. It is, in appearance at least, more obvious and prac- 
tical than those of which we have been treating, though not 
more true and real. It is the lesson of a peaceful and perfect 
trust in the providential care of God. To learn this lesson, 
" Consider the lilies; how they grow: they toil not, they spin 
not, and yet I say unto you, that Solomon, in all his glory, was 
not arrayed like one of these. ' ' This is the premise of the argu- 
ment. The lily's peerless beauty and unapproachable superi- 
ority to all the adornments of art, is a fact which* all may ob- 
serve, and, no doubt, had been observed a thousand times : but 
the inference remained to be drawn by Him who came to inter- 
pret at once both Nature and the God of Nature. The logic is 
irresistible. The reasoning is what books on logic call the argu- 
ment a fortiori. It is reasoning from the stronger to the weaker 
case. If, in a given case, a thing which is difficult and unlikely 
to happen has been done, much more, in the same circumstances, 
will that which is easy and probable take place. It is the argu- 
ment which Paul uses to assure the justified sinner of salvation, 
when he says, " He that spared not his own Son, but delivered 
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us 
all things ?" 

Thus in the context, the Saviour reasons in reference to God's 
providential care of men : "If then God so clothe the grass, 
which is to-day in the field, and to-morrow is cast into the oven ; 
how much m,ore will he clothe you, ye of little faith ! ' ' Rea- 
son cannot resist the argument, and if our hearts were not filled 
with earthliness and unbelief, such a demonstration and assur- 



II. ] THE LESSONS OF THE FLOWERS. 53 

ance of the paternal care of God, would quiet every anxiety, and 
keep our souls in perfect peace. Are not ye of more value than 
the fading flower? If God, in the lavish expenditure of his re- 
sources and his skill, arrays it in tints of divinest beauty, will he 
deny to those who trust in him, the raiment that they need f Ye care- 
worn souls, who destroy your own peace, and dishonour your 
God, by useless and unchristian anxieties, — "Consider the 
lilies," and let them preach to you the blessed lesson of trust in 
the providential government and fatherly love of God. Im- 
portant at all times, the lesson is especially needed now, when 
the foundations of society are shaking, and men are tempted to 
even more than common worldliness of spirit, and distrust of 
Heaven. Cast the burden of your care on him who careth for 
you, that your heart may be light and free for his service in the 
things which pertain to the immortal soul, and the life ever- 
lasting. 

1 l Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added unto you." Matt. 
vi. 33. 

The general subject before us, opens a field of delightful me- 
ditation to the devout and thoughtful. It teaches us how to 
read the volume of that revelation which the invisible God has 
unrolled in nature, and shows us how to find treasures of wis- 
dom and fountains of pleasure, and means of moral improve- 
ment in every creature that God hath made. Without either 
the telescope or the microscope, the naked eye and the unscien- 
tific mind has access to a world of wonders which proclaim the 
Creator's eternal power and goodness. 

And the general reason is, that we should school ourselves to 
study God in nature. Then the brightness of every flower, and 

the carol of every bird, and the murmur of every brook, and the 

5 * 



54 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

deep blue sky over-arching all, will speak to us of truth and 
piety, of God and heaven, and help the soul in its aspirings to a 
nobler and better life. 

And let me say to our friends who have not yet u received the 
atonement, ' ' nor known by sweet experience the blessedness of 
reconciliation with God, that the highest and best enjoyment of 
nature is possible only to those who know and love its Divine 
author. To them it is said, "All things are yours :" and 
" Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.' ' 

To the man of clean hands, and of a pure conscience, and of a 
heavenly hope, all creation shows the beauty of the Lord : 
and every natural object whispers peace. He sees and enjoys 
God in nature. 

"His are the mountains, and the valleys his, 
And the resplendent rivers, his to enjoy, 
With a propriety that none can feel, 
But who, with filial confidence inspired, 
Can lift to heaven an unpresumptuous eye, 
And smiling say, — ' My Father made them all V " 

Be thou reconciled to God. Become a new creature in Christ 
Jesus, and when old things shall pass away, and all things be- 
come new, the world itself will seem a new creation, and you will 
t have an earnest of what awaits the regenerated church, in c ' the 
new heavens and the new earth. ' ■ 



III.] ORPAH AND RUTH. 55 



SERMON III. 
ORPAH AND RUTH. 

Ruth i. 14. — And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth 
clave unto her. 

There is very much in the character and position of this little 
group, which appeals to the softer sensibilities of the heart. 

They had been together in seasons of joy, and had all drunk 
of the same bitter cup of affliction. Each of them had for a 
limited period discharged the duties, and enjoyed the pleasures 
of married life : and each in her turn had felt the heart-crush- 
ing agony of bereavement. 

One of them, advanced in life, was — in the sense of Paul's 
words, "a widow indeed," and "desolate," — trusting in God, 
and continuing in prayers and supplications night and day. 

The other two were young. Though their earthly prospects 
had been prematurely blasted, they might hope to live for many 
years ; and at this point of time, might be regarded as starting 
out anew on their journey of life ; and the circumstances in 
which they were now placed, were of such a nature as to impart 
to their action in the premises very great importance, and a de- 
cisive bearing on both their temporal and spiritual interests. It 
was, in fact, a crisis, from which an immortal career was to take 
its point of departure. The question which these two young 



56 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

women were then to decide, and which there is every reason to 
believe, they did decide, was not that of a continued residence 
in the country of Moab, the land of their nativity, or an emigra- 
tion to the land of Israel. It was infinitely more profound and 
far-reaching. Essentially and really it was the question of their 
translation out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of 
God — the same which meets every one of us as we journey 
through life, and which sooner or later is decided by us all, to 
our eternal joy or grief. — Shall I yield to the dictates of con- 
science, and the calls of Grod ; cast in my lot with his people, and 
take his favour for my portion? 

The different ways in which this question is disposed of, are 
palpably exhibited in the conduct of Orpah and Ruth : and we 
may very fairly regard each of them as the representative of a 
class ; to which it may possibly appear that we ourselves belong. 
And without thereby limiting the application of the text to 
persons of any particular age or sex, it may, perhaps, awaken 
more interest in the minds of a portion of my hearers, to remind 
you that these individuals were young women, who have their 
antitypes in every congregation. 

Let us, for a little season, meditate on the contrast which is 
here represented. 1. Our first point is Orpatis return. Her 
hiss was that of valediction and parting. Having at first, along 
with Ruth, expressed her determination to go with Naomi to 
Canaan, she afterwards changed her mind, and, though with 
evident sadness, and a degree of reluctance, went back to live 
and die in the land of her nativity. Her conduct presents very 
distinctly two phases of character and experience which are re- 
produced in every generation. It reveals, so to speak, that 
dualism in the soul — that struggle of conscience with corruption 
— of the religious sensibilities with the deep ungodliness of our 



III.] ORPAH AND RUTH. 57 

nature — which is familiar to the experience of all who live under 
the ministrations and influences of the gospel. Who has not 
felt himself pulled in contrary directions? not only as to whether 
he should do or not do a given action, but as to the great and 
decisive question of surrendering his heart to God? Reason, 
conscience, and the fear of punishment urge to the surrender : 
aversion to holiness, and the love of a sinful life, hinder and 
prevent it. In the conduct of Orpah, these opposing forces are 
visibly depicted. 

She went a certain distance with her mother-in-law. We will 
not strain a significance out of this which does not fairly belong 
to it. Doubtless it was personal attachment mainly which 
wrought with her, and there is no positive evidence that she had 
in mind the bearing her conduct might have on her spiritual 
interests and the salvation of her soul. 

But when we consider who Naomi was — a Jewess — a wor- 
shipper of Jehovah — a woman of devoted piety, whose holy and 
consistent life had been making its mark on the mind of Orpah, 
for years together, in scenes of joy and sorrow; — and when we 
further remember that the simple act of removing her residence 
from Moab to Canaan involved a change of religion — and ne- 
cessitated the renunciation of idol-worship — it is plain that a 
religious element must have blended with the personal affection 
which drew her after Naomi. Not her heart of natural love 
only, but her conscience led in that direction : and she went a 
certain distance, intending, as it would seem, to go all the way 
and have her part and portion with the people and God of her 
pious relative. 

Not with the desire of turning them from their purpose, but, 
as we must suppose, for the sake of putting their sincerity and 
earnestness to the test, "Naomi said unto her two daughters- 



58 truth in love. [Ser. 

in-law, Go, return each to her mother's house : The Lord deal 
kindly with you, as ye have dealt with the dead and with me. 
The Lord grant that ye may find rest, each of you in the house 
of her husband. Then she kissed them, and they lifted up their 
voice and wept." At first suggestion, the thought of separa- 
tion was too painful to be entertained ; and they both exclaimed, 
' c Surely we will return with thee unto thy people. " As if de- 
termined to subject their characters and purposes to the most 
thorough probation, she then stated in detail the drawbacks and 
disadvantages involved in carrying out the resolution which they 
had just announced: and this occasioned a new outburst of 
grief; but it also brought on the crisis, and developed what be- 
fore had been latent — the difference in their characters. 

"Orpah kissed her mother-in-law," and departed. It cost 
her a struggle, but she did it, and there are many like her. Tt 
is a very common thing among the unconverted — especially the 
youn&, and most of all, perhaps, among young females, to feel 
tenderly and strongly attracted towards the people of God and 
a life of piety : and it is lamentably common with those who are 
the subjects of this experience, and have taken some steps Zion- 
ward, inquiring the way, to stop, halt a while between two 
opinions, and at last go back to the place of departure, and die 
and perish in the land of their nativity. A superficial convic- 
tion of sin, sympathy with the religious feeling which prevails 
around them, personal attachment to individual Christians, and 
motives less pure, may start a person on a course of external 
deportment and duty which gives promise of conversion and 
salvation. But he starts without "counting the cost;" and 
hence, when brought into contact with the difficulties and sacri- 
fices involved in the undertaking, he turns back, and is seen no 
more in company with those whose faces are resolutely set to- 



III.] ORPAfl AND RUTH. 59 

ward the Zion of God. The life and ministry of Jesus Christ 
brought many such characters to light. Such was ' ' a certain 
Scribe" who said — "Master, I will follow thee whithersoever 
thou goest;" but who immediately disappeared on our Lord's 
saying — " The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have 
nests ; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head. ' ' 
Such were a multitude who, having begun to follow him from 
interested motives, presently stumbled at his ' ' hard sayings, ' ' 
and went back and walked no more with him : and as an exact 
type of this class, and as a counterpart of the case in hand, we 
may mention the young ruler who came running to Jesus, and 
kneeling at his feet, inquired, What he must do to inherit eter- 
nal life. A more hopeful inquirer it would be hard to imagine. 
As to the letter, he had kept the commandments of Grod from 
his youth ; his morals were pure, his manner profoundly respect- 
ful, his feeling deep ! Surely he is just now taking the decisive 
step — entering in at the strait gate ! 

We should have thought so : but the Searcher of hearts 
judged otherwise, and applied a test which revealed to the man 
his heart : and, like Orpah, he went away sorrowful — with dis- 
appointment and grief depicted on his face. 

What has now been said may suffice as to the influences and 
feelings which induced Orpah to go as far as she did : but here 
an important question meets us : Why did they not carry her 
forward? Why did she turn back? The inconveniences and 
hardships ahead, as represented by Naomi, had some influence 
on the result ; but they were not insurmountable : a resolute 
and undivided heart could overcome such obstacles. 

Ruth did it. There must have been at work a secret and pow- 
erful influence drawing her in the opposite direction. And what 
this was, we are not left to conjecture, or to infer from the gene- 



GO truth in love. [Ser. 

ral doctrine of Scripture, in regard to the sinfulness of the hu- 
man heart. The narrative supplies the explanation. Just as 
Orpah turned to depart, Naomi made a last appeal to Ruth, to 
see whether example might not shake her constancy. c ' Behold, 
thy sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods ; 
return thou after thy sister-in-law." These words, to our mind, 
assert not only the general nature and effect of Orpah' s conduct, 
but the motive also which induced it. 

It was love to her sinful countrymen and hundred, and devotion 
to idols. These were the two strong bonds by which Satan held 
her soul in captivity — the powers which counteracted and over- 
came the dictates of conscience, and sundered her connexion with 
those to whom she was nearly related and tenderly attached. 
And the same influences have had the same effect on multitudes 
besides. Domestic and social connexions, with those who fear not 
God, are among the most operative and powerful causes of con- 
tinued impenitence. 

Common topics of conversation, common sources of pleasure, 
and a common alienation from God, are their bond of union — a 
magnetic attraction which draws unbelieving minds and earthly 
hearts together. The love of such associations and friendships — 
the unwillingness to displease — want of courage to be singular — 
and the fear of ridicule and contempt, are powerful impediments 
to conversion. They are continually suppressing conviction, and 
quenching the Spirit in thousands of hearts. To make their 
operation palpable as possible, suppose the case of a young 
lady who is devoted to fashionable pleasures. She lives in so- 
ciety. Her most intimate friends, are, like herself, thoughtless 
on the subject of religion. She meets with them often — drinks 
into their spirit, and is never so happy as when mingling in the 
festivities of a party. The dance is her Elysium. Leading such 



III.] ORPAH AND RUTH. 61 

a life, she is not a very likely subject of serious thought. Never- 
theless, the gay votaries of pleasure do sometimes receive the 
visitations of God's Spirit. It thus happens to her. A sermon, a 
providence, the solemn appeal of a pious friend, brings the sub- 
ject before her mind, and conscience and the Spirit unite to give 
it impression and power. She feels that she ought to be a 
Christian ; that the life she is leading is neither right nor safe. 
And while these thoughts occupy her mind, she is half-persuaded 
to act on them, and "go" with the people of God. Like Orpah, 
she takes some steps in that direction, then stops, and at last 
turns back. Why does she act thus ? I appeal to the experi- 
ence of my hearers, especially of the young, and most especially 
of young women, if the consideration which first occurred and 
operated with greatest power, was not the thought that by be- 
coming a Christian, you would be compelled to give up your 
intimacy with gay and godless companions — renouncing the 
pleasures of the ball-room, the card-table, and all the kindred 
practices in which undevout and earthly minds delight ? 

Your social connexions, enfolding you like a net- work, held you 
fast, and after an ineffectual struggle you determined — regret- 
fully and sadly it may be — but still you determined, to give the 
matter of your soul's salvation the go-by, at least for the present, 
and to drink the cup of sinful pleasure a little longer. 

You u went back to your own people" and you are an .impeni- 
tent sinner to-day, because you would not separate yourself from 
those who were living in estrangement from God. 

But it is further said of Orpah, that she ■ ' went back unto her 
gods." 

The gods of the Moabites were, of course, false deities — idols 
which had usurped the name, the place, the prerogatives, and 
the worship due to Jehovah, who alone is the Creator, Lord, 



62 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei*. 

and Redeemer of men. Of these the principal were Chemosh and 
Baal-Peor, of whose peculiar worship little is known, except that 
what was rendered to the latter, is said to have been emphatic- 
ally an ' ' abominable idolatry. ' ' To these impure rites and God- 
dishonouring altars Orpah returned, and gave to these vile 
usurpers the homage and affection of her soul. 

And it was because she preferred to be an idolater, that she 
did not become a worshipper of the God of Israel. Her heart 
was fully possessed by that infatuation and blindness which ever 
characterize idolatry : and though she had seen the lovely fruits 
of a purer religion in the character and life of Naomi, she could 
not be won from it : and hence, after meditating a change, and 
for a. season purposing to break away from its bewitching at- 
tractions, her resolution failed, and she went ' e back to her gods ' ' 
— to live and die, and perish at their altars. 

I need not inform you, my friends, that idolatry may exist 
where no temple or priest, image or victim, is seen. " There are 
gods, many, ' ' and idolaters many, where the light of revelation 
shines with fullest blaze. And I suppose that the guiltiest and 
most God-dishonouring idolaters on the face of the earth are 
those among ourselves who "are lovers of pleasure more than 
lovers of God, ' ' who ' c worship and serve the creature more than 
the Creator." 

Spiritual idolatry is the common and fundamental wickedness 
of the impenitent in Christian lands ; and it is the mightiest im- 
pediment to their conversion. It lies at the foundation of what 
we have before spoken of— the sinner's unwillingness to forsake 
Christless and worldly companions. This is the precise thing 
which hinders your salvation. Your heart is ungodly and idola- 
trous. You love the pleasures of sin more than the God who 
created you, and the Saviour who died for you. 



III.] ORPAH AND RUTH. 63 

You may make an idol of your person, of your attire ; of com- 
pany, of an amusement , of a novel, of any " trifle light as air," 
so fearfully atheistic is man's apostate nature. Many of you, 
perhaps, have often done already, and I greatly fear will do 
again to-day, the thing which Orpah did — go bach to your 
gods! 

But why will you do it? Why will ye die? I entreat you 
not to do it. I warn you against it. It is a great iniquity, 
though often committed by very amiable persons. We feel a 
great interest in Orpah. She possessed tender sensibilities, 
warm affections; and Naomi, who had reason to know, bore 
witness that she had been a dutiful daughter and a devoted 
wife. But — she was an idolater. She preferred to prostrate 
herself at the shrine of a filthy idol, rather than " compass the 
altar" of Jehovah, and join in the acts of a pure and sanctifying 
worship ! 

And I must tell you that amiability, sweetness of temper, 
grace of person and manners, dutifulness as a daughter, kind- 
ness as a sister, devotion as a wife, will avail you nothing, if 
over against it all is set an ungodly heart. 

Orpah committed a great error, as well as a great sin, in going 
back She chose what for the present was the more agreeable 
course — yielding to the impulse of feeling, rather than following 
the dictates of judgment and conscience. What became of her 
in life, death, and eternity, is not recorded. * The natural pre- 
sumption is against her. The probability is, that she lived and 
died in her sins, a worshipper of idols, and went to an unblest 
eternity — an eternity the more unblest, because, at one time in 
her history, she had been powerfully attracted towards God and 
salvation, and " almost persuaded" to cast in her lot with those 
who were going to Canaan and to heaven. 



64 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

Her conduct is, therefore, our "ensaniple," not for imitation, 
but for warning — a beacon-light set up on a dangerous coast 
where multitudes have made shipwreck of faith and a good con- 
science, and lost their souls. 

" Remember Lots wife" whose lingering, regretful look at 
the accursed city cost her her life. Remember Orpah, who, 
after having actually started to the Land of Promise, lost heart, 
and drew ' ' back to perdition. ' ' Keep these monuments of un- 
belief worldliness, and idolatry ever in your view, and flee the 
danger which they indicate : and when your hearts are possessed 
with a salutary fear of going in the wrong direction, turn to the 
beautiful and persuasive example of Ruth, and peradventure, it 
may win you to the pleasant ways of wisdom, and put your feet 
in that path, the end of which is " glory, honour, and immor- 
tality." 

II. ' ' And Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clave 
unto her. ' * The noblest examples of heroic faith, and of fidelity 
to God and conscience, are often raised up on the very scene of 
defection and apostasy : and they shine with a brighter lustre, 
and draw with a stronger attraction, because of the contrast in 
which they appear. They show that in the very same circum- 
stances of trial and difficulty before which others give way, it is 
possible to hold fast one's integrity, and enter the kingdom of 
God. These parallels run through the Scriptures, and are con- 
stantly developed in the history of Redemption. 

Of such classes, Orpah and Ruth are excellent types ; and 
the example of the latter comes to us clothed with peculiar 
power, because we see it in the light of her sister's defection. 
Nothing could change her steadfast mind. Her courage grew 
with the obstacles it encountered, like Bartimeus, who cried the 
louder, when the multitude required him to hold his peace. 



III.] ORPAK AND RUTH. 65 

Three several times did Naomi propose that she should return — 
in the last instance citing the example of Orpah : ' ' Behold, thy 
sister-in-law is gone back unto her people, and unto her gods : 
return thou after thy sister-in-law. ' ' 

This brought matters to a crisis. Such a proposal was abhor- 
rent to her soul. She repelled it, and clave unto Naomi ; and 
her full heart gave vent to its overpowering emotions in those 
ever-memorable words, concerning which Voltaire is said to have 
acknowledged that there is ' c nothing in Homer or Herodotus 
that goes to the heart' ' as they do : " Entreat me not to leave 
thee, or to return from following after thee : for whither thou 
goest, I will go ; and where thou lodgest, I will lodge : thy 
people shall be my people, and thy God my God : where thou 
diest, will I die, and there will I be buried : the Lord do so to 
me, and more also, if aught but death part thee and me." 

Let me commend to you this admirable example of decision. 
Many fail of the grace of God, and lose their immortal souls, by 
halting between two opinions. They wish to be Christians, hope 
they shall be ; have no thought of dying in impenitence ; but they 
cannot bring themselves up to the point of an immediate and unal- 
terable purpose to serve God, and to cast in their lot with his 
people. 

To be saved, you must look the difficulties full in the face, 
count the cost, and, in the strength of God, resolve that, as for 
you, you will serve the Lord. If neighbours or kindred will not 
go with you, you must go alone, and, in the meaning of our Lord, 
" hate'' and " forsake" them, for the kingdom of God's sake. 

Without such a resolution, formed and acted on, you will va- 
cillate all the days of your life, or else, after resisting the con- 
victions of your conscience for a while, become so hardened 

through the deceitfulness of sin, as to feel no concern about sal- 
6* 



66 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

vation. I exhort you, therefore, to be decided. Determine 
now to be a Christian. Be resolute. " Strive to enter in at the 
strait gate : for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and 
shall not be able." 

Imitate Ruth, who clave unto a poor and pious widow, be- 
cause she was the representative of God, of his people, and of 
his salvation. Cleave to your convictions. " Cleave to that 
which is good," and to those who are good. " Cleave unto the 
Lord your God." Say to the church — "I will go with you, 
for I have heard that God is with you. ' ' 

To help, if possible, this good purpose to the birth in your 
heart, let me suggest how morally beautiful genuine piety is in 
the young ; and, may I not add? — especially in young women. I 
am sure you admire the character of Ruth more than that of 
Orpah. Her very name is held in precious remembrance, and 
given to many a child of prayer and of promise. Godliness is 
not 'imbecoming to any one. It dignifies and graces the charac- 
ter of a man. It i - becomes the throned monarch better than 
his crown. " " 'Tis mightiest m the mightiest. ' ' 

But surely, of all the adornments of a woman, this is the 
chief. "Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain : but a woman 
that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised. Gold, and pearls, 
and costly array lose their brilliancy and beauty beside ' c the or- 
nament of a meek and quiet spirit, which, in the sight of God, 
is of great price " — and in the sight of man also, even of those 
who are blind to the beauty of holiness, is not by any means 
despised. If you wish to put on the most "beautiful garment" 
— one woven by divine art, and woven in the colours of heaven, 
" put on the Lord Jesus Christ," and the graces of his Spirit. 
Love, joy, and peace ; meekness, gentleness, and humility, will be 
1 ' an ornament of grace unto thy head, and chains about thy neck. ' ' 



III.] ORPAH AND RUTH. 67 

In time of youth they will be more beautiful than the rose on 
your cheek, or the lily- whiteness of your hand : and in those 
u evil days" which are coming fast, — when the "daughters of 
music are brought low, and the windows are darkened, and you 
have no pleasure in them," — these flowers of Paradise, early 
planted in the garden of the heart, will put forth their comeliest 
colours and emit their sweetest odours. ' ■ The righteous shall 
flourish like the palm-tree ; he shall grow like the cedar in Le- 
banon. " " They shall still bring forth fruit in old age ; they 
shall be fat and flourishing. ' ' 

And finally, the example of Ruth is commended to your imi- 
tation, by the happiness, blessing, and honour which resulted from 
her choice. 

From the hour she took for her ovm, the people and God of 
Naomi, a benignant providence attended her steps. She found 
in Canaan far more and better things than she left in Moab. 
The reproach and sorrow of widowhood, she presently forgot in 
the house of an affectionate, honoured, and pious husband. And 
the temporal blessings enjoyed were the least part of her recom- 
pense. She lived and died according to her wish, in communion 
with the people of God ; and with them now awaits a glorious 
resurrection. She proved, experimentally, that ' ' godliness hath 
the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. ' ' 

If you imitate her example, you will share her blessedness. 
" Wisdom's ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths 
are peace." 

" Every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, 
or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my 
name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit 
everlasting life." Matt. xix. 29. 



68 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 



SERMON IV. 
BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 

Lam. iii. 27. — It is good for a man that he hear the yoke in 

his youth. 

Those things which are best for us, are not always the plea- 
santest : and many things which the Bible represents as bless- 
ings are looked on as quite the reverse. 

In regard to the government and discipline which God exer- 
cises over mankind, we sustain the same kind of relation that 
children do to the control and care of their parents. So igno- 
rant are they of what is best for them, and so utterly incapable 
of entering into the views of those who have at heart their high- 
est happiness and welfare, that it often seems to them as if their 
parents' will and authority were the greatest evil they had to en- 
counter. Their appetites and passions are clamorous for indulg- 
ence, and they can neither see the wisdom nor the kindness of 
denying them what they crave. 

In their case we can readily see that it is inexperience and ig- 
norance that beget unhappiness, and make them restive under 
parental control. The best blessing to a child, next to the care 
and love of the Great Father in heaven, is that of "the fathers 
of our flesh : ' ' and there is nothing for which a man is more de- 
voutly thankful than for the very restraint which, while it annoyed 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 69 

and chafed his youthful spirit, was the effectual means of turn- 
ing his feet from the paths of danger, and forming those habits 
of self-control and industry which have led to temporal success, 
and even to the salvation of his soul. 

What parental discipline is to a child, as a means of preparing 
it for the labours of mortal life and of this present world, the 
gracious government of God is to us all, as the heirs of an im- 
mortal existence. Its object is our ultimate welfare, and not our 
present gratification ; and its wisdom and love are vindicated not 
by the pleasure of present experience, but by the preciousness 
of its final fruits. What is "good" for us may not be agreeable, 
and what is agreeable may not be good. Left to ourselves, like 
children, we instinctively choose what is pleasant, thoughtless 
or ignorant of consequences, and if no higher wisdom than our 
own were brought to bear in the premises, we should be our own 
worst enemies. 

A child cries for sweetmeats when it needs medicine, and a 
boy clamours for liberty when his safety and salvation demand 
government ; and there is not one of us who is not guilty of 
follies and errors, equally injurious to our welfare as accountable 
and immortal creatures. Many of us have lived long enough to 
see that Divine checks and interferences with our wishes and pur- 
poses have subserved our interests, and given us greater blessings 
by far than would have been the gratification of our desires. 

The statement of the text should not therefore encounter our 
prejudice. Not to insist on its authority as a Divine oracle, it is 
supported by many analogies and abundant experience. "It is 
good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth." 

The nature and significance of the "yoke," and the reasons 
why it is good to bear it in the days of our " youth" are the 
points presented, and to which I now invite your attention. 



70 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

I. And first, we are to inquire for the nature and meaning of 
the yoke referred to. 

In general, a yoke is the emblem of service and subjection — as 
where the apostle speaks of ' ' servants under the yoke. ' ' 

It may be galling and oppressive, amounting to intolerable 
slavery, like the "yoke of bondage'' to Jewish ordinances, of 
which Peter said, " neither we nor our fathers were able to 
bear. ' ' Or, it may be the* light and pleasant yoke of the ' ' rea- 
sonable'' and willing service which Christ requires, and of 
which he says, ' ' My yoke is easy, and my burden is light. ' ' 

As the language of the text is general^ and there is no limiting 
or descriptive epithet which shows the application designed, we 
are left to infer the nature of the yoke spoken of from the de- 
claration that it is good for a man to bear it in his youth : and I 
have no doubt that in this case, the highest sense is the truest. 
It is the yoke of religion — the subjugation of the soul to the will 
and employment in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ. The 
declaration of the text is true, however, in all its applications, — 
the lowest not less than the highest. The yoke of a child's sub- 
jection to its parents ; the yoke of a lad's apprenticeship to the 
master who teaches him a mechanical trade, and the yoke of a 
school-boy's discipline by which he is taught the lessons of sub- 
mission to rightful authority and patient and painful application, * 
are earthly and secular senses in which the principle announced 
holds good. The truth is, it is a fundamental principle of hu- 
man well-being, and inseparable from the existence of creatures 
at once dependent and accountable. If religion is a yoke, it is 
put on necks which are made to bear a yoke, and which, in all 
other respects, are not " unaccustomed" to do so. 

In the prosecution of worldly undertakings men draw, like the 
veriest oxen, in the yoke of a real or a self-imposed necessity, 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 71 

taking up their daily cross of self-denial. Ease, pleasure, society, 
are constantly sacrificed to what they regard as a higher inter- 
est : and religion is but acting on the same principle in its ap- 
plication to the highest concerns of immortal beings. And the 
Bible is both frank and fearless in calling it by its proper name. 
It is a yoke. It involves obligation, service, and subjection. It 
is not an opinion, a sentiment, a feeling, or a profession. It is 
a loving obedience to God. It is discipleship in the school of 
Jesus, taking him for Teacher, Lord, Pattern, not less than as 
Redeemer and Saviour. If this is the nature of religion, and 
these the terms of salvation, we should not hesitate to set it 
forth in its true colours. Jesus did so. He met men at the 
very threshold of their inquiries with the cross and the yoke. To 
the old and the young, he said alike : — " If any man will come 
after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and fol- 
low me. ' ' And even to those whom he saw fainting and falling 
under the burden of their sins and sorrows, he said, i ' Take my 
yoke upon you, and learn of me : for I am meek and lowly in 
heart ; and ye shall find rest unto your souls. ' ' 

I am well aware that a mistaken idea of what the yoke of Je- 
sus is, exists in the minds of men, and operates with peculiar 
power on the young, as a hindrance to their conversion and sal- 
vation. They see in religion nothing but restraint, and their 
exact conception of it is that of a "yoke," which limits their 
freedom and fetters their powers. Hence they refuse it, and re- 
solve to enjoy the largest liberty. There is, perhaps, no single ' 
objection which has more weight with persons in the earlier 
periods of life. In the hope of neutralizing its power, we offer 
two or three remarks. 

The first is, that unrestrained liberty is impossible. 

Our freedom to do as we please, is confined on every side, by 



72 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

impassable barriers. The relations we sustain to one another in 
the family, in society, in the state, and the rules of conduct im- 
posed by public opinion and civil authority, prevent men from 
doing many things which they might wish to do : while the 
moral obligations which rest upon us as the accountable crea- 
tures of God, are inseparable from our existence. If we disre- 
gard, we cannot annul them. They must bind us still, as we 
shall find, in the day of final retribution, and in the miseries 
which sin begets even in this present life. 

Creatures cannot be independent. Subjection to law and au- 
thority is the condition of their existence. 

In the second place, let it be considered, that every one is cer- 
tain to wear the yoke of some master. If we do not serve God, 
we will serve mammon, or appetite, or some of the " divers lusts 
and pleasures, ' ' which enslave the votaries of the world. Our 
choice is between being the Lord's freedmen or Satan's slaves : 
between a voluntary, rational, and manly compliance with the 
dictates of conscience and the demands of reason, and an igno- 
ble and slavish subjection to the blind importunity of appetite 
and passion. It is a master-stroke of Satanic subtlety and false- 
hood, to make men believe that in choosing the latter branch of 
this alternative, they are making sure of personal freedom and 
independence! To set reason and conscience at defiance, and give 
one's self up to the dominion of appetite, lust, and worldly plea- 
sures, involves a deeper moral degradation, and a more abject 
bondage, than is found among the slaves of a Southern plan- 
tation. 

Is the drunkard free who cannot withstand the fascination of 
the wine-cup? Or the adulterer, who is unable to pass by the 
house of her whose ways take hold on hell? Or the ''com- 
panion of fools," who has not the moral courage and manliness 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 73 

to say No to their guilty and shameful enticements? Or the 
gay devotee of fashionable pleasures and amusements, who con- 
tinually suppresses the voice of conscience and the strivings of 
God's Spirit? One and all these are miserable slaves, .and none 
the less so because their bondage is voluntary. A man is none 
the less a slave because he chooses to abide with his master, and 
these "servants of sin" are made slaves by the poioer of their 
master, and the degradation of their employment and condition : 
and rightly considered, their voluntariness is but an element of 
their bondage, even as the contentment of a slave proves how 
utterly the spirit of genuine manhood has been extinguished in 
his heart. 

Once more : — Let those who dread and shun religion as if it 
were a "yoke of bondage," listen to the testimonies of Scrip- 
ture, and the experience of Christians as to the nature of expe- 
rimental and practical religion. Though the Bible calls it a 
' ' yoke, ' ' good care is taken to tell us in what sense the word is 
used. If it implies service and subjection, all that is repulsive 
and forbidding in this conception is dissipated when we are in- 
formed that Christ* is our Master, and hear from his own gra- 
cious lips this sweet call to discipleship — " Take my yoke upon 
you, and learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye 
shall find rest unto your souls." So far is discipleship in the 
school of Christ from being a condition of bondage, that the 
Scriptures present it under the image of a blessed emancipation 
from servitude, and an introduction of the soul into a state of 
"glorious liberty." To the Jews, Christ said — "If the Son 
shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." The apostle 
James describes the rule of a believer's obedience as " the per- 
fect law of liberty " and expatiates upon the blessedness of the 
man who, in heart and deed, is conformed to it. Christians are 



74 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

temples of the Holy Grhost, and ! ' where the Spirit of the Lord 
is, there is liberty. ' ' 

Still, perhaps, it seems a mystery that men should be free, 
while yet they are under a sacred and imperative obligation to 
" serve the Lord Christ." But what is liberty in any true 
and practical sense of the word? It is not unbridled license to 
do whatever caprice, interest, or passion may impel us to do. 
It is freedom from oppression and compulsion, and is all the 
more perfect and secure because it is regulated, denned, and de- 
fended by laws and constitutions which are supreme over all in- 
dividual wills. 

As American citizens are we not free ? Liberty is our boast 
and glory : and yet every one of us is subject to the authority 
of laws which we dare not violate, even if we were disposed to. 
We obey " every ordinance of man for wrath or for conscience' 
sake, ' ' even though it may not be wise or just, and yet we ac- 
count ourselves a free people. 

The Christian's liberty resembles this, but is far more perfect. 
The law to which he is subject, is " holy, and just, and good" 
insomuch that his obedience to it, in every jt)t and particular, is 
promotive of his well-being and happiness. Furthermore, it is 
not engraven on tables of stone, nor printed in statute books, 
but ''written" on the fleshly tables of the heart, and in the ex- 
perience of every believer, is "the law of the Spirit of life in 
Christ Jesus," making him "free from the law of sin and 
death. ' ' He loves it and obeys it from choice, moved thereto 
not by the fear of threatened perdition, but by gratitude and 
love for a present and promised salvation. 

And what the Scriptures represent concerning the nature of 
the yoke worn by the disciples of Christ, is found true in their 
actual experience. They bear it "with delight." They would 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 75 

not, if they might, be released from it. If it were taken off, 
they would put their necks under it again, the next moment. 
They are all in sympathy with him who cried — " Lord, truly 
I am thy servant, and the son of thy handmaid: thou hast 
loosed my bonds/' 

The suggestions now offered are sufficient, as it seems to me, 
if they were duly attended to, to remove the prejudice and mis- 
apprehension which exist in the minds of men, and particularly 
in those of the young, in regard to religion. It is not the yoke 
of bondage which they take it to be, but the easy and pleasant 
service which a ransomed sinner and renewed soul renders to the 
glorious Redeemer whom he adores and loves. 

II. And if this be so, it goes far to prove the truth of the 
proposition laid down in the text : — "It is good for a man that 
he bear the yoke in his youth. ' ' 

It is good for a man to bear it at any time, even though it were 
in his old age, and in the decay of all his powers. If he had 
but the last of his threescore and ten years to live, it would be 
good to put his neck under Christ's yoke, for that short period. 
But while this is true, it is not the thing which is said in the 
text : nor is there any such thing said in express terms, any- 
where in Scripture. And that, my friends, is a very significant 
and solemn fact — a silence of the Scriptures quite as impressive 
as their utterances ! From the Bible we gather, that all sin- 
ners, and therefore old ones, may be converted and saved, but 
we are not thus left to infer from general principles, the relation 
which the young sustain to the service and salvation of God. 

On this subject, revelation is explicit and full, and here is one 
of its blessed oracles: " It is good for a man that he bear the 
yoke in his youth." It is good for any, for all, but pre-emi- 
nently good for the young. This is the precise truth announced. 



76 truth in love. [Ser. 

It is good in every sense of the word. It is morally good, 
right in the sight of God. It meets the approbation of con- 
science, of heaven, and of all good men : and it is good in the 
sense of being beneficial It promotes the welfare and happi- 
ness of men to bear the yoke of Christian service, and especially 
to bear it in their youth : — and for this there are some special 
reasons; and 

1. It is easier then than afterwards, to be broken in to the yoke 
of Christ. The animals which serve us with submissive meek- 
ness and docility, are ' ' broken ' ' and trained to the harness and 
the yoke while young. If suffered to run at large unbridled and 
untamed till they have grown old, it is almost impossible to sub- 
due them. If done at all, it is accomplished with great diffi- 
culty, and they are seldom or never brought to the perfect sub- 
jection and usefulness which are attained by an earlier training. 

A bullock " unaccustomed to the yoke," till he has grown 
strong and stubborn, is a true type of the sinner, who has 
1 'hardened his neck" against the authority and restraints of 
religion, till he has grown gray in the indulgence of his own will, 
and in the practice of iniquity. His conversion and salvation 
are not impossible, but are commonly effected with a peculiar 
difficulty and severity of discipline. And after he is fairly yoked 
as a disciple of Christ, he does not usually draw with that stea- 
diness and strength, or with ease to himself and pleasantness to 
others, which characterize those who from childhood were 
" trained up in the way they should go." 

Youth is the time for education and discipline. The young 
mind and heart is docile and plastic — readily taking on the forms 
which the moulds about it impress. 

It is then that principles are deeply rooted, habits firmly 
fixed, and the powers of nature developed in almost any required 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 77 

direction. True in general, this is pre-eminently so of religion. 
It is the highest education and the noblest development of man. 
It implants the strongest as well as the holiest principles in the 
heart, and forms the soul to habits of piety and virtue, which 
become so entirely a u second nature," that what may have been 
felt at first, as a cross and a yoke, is borne without the conscious- 
ness of pain or difficulty. Comparatively speaking, it is easy to 
become a Christian in childhood and youth : though even then, 
it requires the exertion of omnipotent grace. 

If this favoured season is suffered to go by without improve- 
ment, the probabilities of conversion rapidly diminish, and in 
ol<fc age — if we should live to see it — there is almost an impossi- 
bility of salvation. Such is the representation of Scripture. 
When the Ethiopian can change his skin, and the leopard his 
spots, then those who have been accustomed to do evil, may 
learn to do well. 

It is a fact that cannot be too often repeated, or too solemnly 
pondered, that an overwhelming majority of all who ever are 
converted, begin to bear the yoke of Christ in their youth! 
Here and there, now and then, a gray- haired sinner like Manas- 
sell, is made a monument of redeeming love, but the cases are 
so few as to be manifestly exceptional, while hosts of young 
Samuels, Josiahs, and Timothys, Ruths and Marys, rise up 
to show the love that God hath to the young, and the greater 
readiness with which the youthful heart yields to the loving im- 
portunities of the gospel. 

2. A second reason and proof of the proposition laid down in 
the text, exists in the peculiar usefulness which is attained by 
those who bear the yoke of Christ in their youth. 

Enlisting early, they have more time to serve under the Cap- 
tain of salvation. Those who enter the vineyard at the eleventh 
7 * 



78 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

hour, may be useful and accepted labourers, but they accom- 
plished little in comparison with others who begin their work in 
the morning, consecrating to it "the dew of their youth," and 
the best energies of their meridian years. 

And besides the length of time employed, these have oppor- 
tunity of becoming trained and disciplined in the school of 
Christ for increasing usefulness ; while those converted late in 
life find their habits so firmly rooted, that they are unable to 
adapt themselves to their new circumstances, or at least expe- 
rience great difficulty in doing so, and always labour at great 
disadvantage. And, in addition to this, there is a peculiar 
charm in youthful piety which tells with saving effect on 4he 
hearts of men. When the heart is full of the new joy of exist- 
ence, buoyant with hope, and running out on every side to em- 
brace the delights which a benignant Providence has prepared, 
how beautiful and how precious the offering which is presented 
to God, when this fresh and youthful spirit yields itself to the 
sweet and sovereign sway of Jesus Christ ! 

Upon those who have passed through this summer season of 
gracious visitation without effectual attention to the soul's con- 
cerns, how startling the impression of such a spectacle ! And 
with what soft and sympathetic persuasion does it draw those 
of their own age ! 

" The young love to follow the young," and often has it hap- 
pened that the conversion of a young man or a young woman 
has been the means of awaking conviction in the heart of a com- 
panion, and drawing him to the same blessed choice and conse- 
cration. Tf an aged person, who visibly stands on the verge of 
life, is converted, men think that religion is a very proper and 
necessary thing in one so circumstanced, and quietly make up 
their minds to defer the matter till they are in like need. But 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. TO 

when a youth bows his neck to Jesus, this speaks a different 
lesson. It proclaims that religion is as good in life as it is in 
death, as necessary in time as in eternity. 

In the former case, it is looked on as a necessary evil to which 
one is compelled to submit ; in the latter, as a blessing which 
we are glad to embrace. 

Bow to Jesus, my young friends, and thus shall you save 
yourselves and those who are influenced by your example : and 
giving your whole life to Him who redeemed you, you will be 
spared the bitter regrets on a dying-bed which many have ex- 
pressed? 

3. A third consideration going to prove the truth and illus- 
trate the sense of the text, is the peculiar happiness which youth- 
ful piety never fails to secure to its possessor. This thought, 
somewhat involved in what has gone before, deserves more ex- 
press mention. Religious experience, ever pleasant and satis- 
factory, is peculiarly so in the young. The natural joyousness 
of the youthful heart, when sanctified by the grace of God, and 
having infused into it the element of spiritual delight, is such a 
pure and perfect bliss, as renders every unhallowed pleasure in- 
sipid, and imparts unknown endearment and sweetness to those 
which are lawful and innocent. Love-tokens of peculiar pre- 
ciousness does God give to those who ' ' remember their Creator 
in the days of their youth. ' ' Of such He declares — ' ' I love them 
that love me: and those that seek me early shall find me." 
These, above others, find that "wisdom's ways are ways of 
pleasantness. ' ' For every earthly and simple gratification which 
they surrender, God opens a fountain of "holy delight" incom- 
parably better, and all things in nature, providence, and re- 
demption, are commissioned to minister peace and pleasure to 
the new-born soul. 



80 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

The experience of President Edwards, who was converted 
while a young man, has been substantially reproduced in many 
a youthful heart. It is given in his own words : 

"The appearance of every thing was altered; there seemed 
to be, as it were, a calm, beautiful appearance of divine glory in 
almost every thing. God's excellency, his wisdom, his purity 
and love seemed to appear in every thing ; in the sun, moon, 
and stars ; in the clouds and blue sky ; in the grass, flowers, 
and trees ; in the water, and in all nature, which used greatly to 
fix my mind. I often used to sit and view the moon for a long 
time ; and in the day spent much time in viewing the clouds 
and sky, to behold the glory of God in these things ; in the 
meantime singing forth, with a low voice, my contemplations of 
the Creator and Redeemer. ' ' 

This surely is heavenly happiness, and now, by the promise 
of the "peace which passeth all understanding," and the "joy 
that is unspeakable and full of glory," I exhort you to come to 
Jesus and be blessed. Take his yoke upon you, for it is good 
for a man that he bear this yoke in his youth. 

4. On this theme of wide extent, I only add, in conclusion, 
that early piety prepares for an early death, if such should be the 
ordering of God's providence. 

For the reasons already mentioned, "the fear of the Lord 
would be the beginning of wisdom" to each of you, my young 
friends, if you had a revelation from God that your days would 
be prolonged half a century. But you have no such revelation, 
nor any sure defence against an early death. The bloom on 
your cheek, the bounding pulsations of your heart, the elasticity 
of your step, do not assure you that in one short week you will 
not be sleeping in your graves. Many and touching examples 
prove this to be true : and in the death, not less than the con- 



IV.] BEARING THE YOKE IN YOUTH. 81 

version of the young, God calls you to the service and salvation 
of his Son. For you they sicken, and for you they die. Oh, 
let not the dear-bought lesson be lost on any of you ! c ' Seek 
the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is 
near." And be ye therefore ready also, "for in such an hour 
as ye think not, the Son of man cometh. ' ' 



82 truth in love. [Ser. 



SERMON V. 
HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 

Jeremiah viii. 20. — The harvest is past, the summer is ended, 
and we are not saved. 

The pathos of Jeremiah's lament over the sorrows and perils 
of his country and of the church of God, is scarcely exceeded by 
anything in Scripture. Loyal devotion to the land of his birth, 
and fervent zeal for the honour of religion, glowed in his heart, 
and in view of the impending and visible calamities from which 
there was now no escape, called forth these melting expressions 
of pious and patriotic grief. The case was desperate. 

Already he saw the invading host of the Chaldeans ; the 
{ l snorting of their horses was heard from Dan, and the whole 
land trembled at the sound of the neighing of their strong ones. " 
In their previous history, Israel had ofttimes been exposed to 
like dangers ; but through the intervention of judges, prophets, 
and kings, had been brought to repentance, and had thus ob- 
tained deliverance. In signal instances, God had directly inter- 
posed to break the yoke of their oppressors, and to defeat the 
hostile designs of their heathenish foes. But in the prophet's 
estimation, their present case was not of this character, and fell 
under a different law. It appeared to him to be without remedy : 
and this not because the enemy was so powerful and so near. 



V.] HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 83 

The situation was not so threatening as in the days of Heze- 
kiah, when Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was encamped before 
the gates of Jerusalem, with a mighty host of warriors. On all 
grounds of mere human and worldly calculation, there was no 
prospect or possibility of deliverance : but this vital difference 
then existed. The king and his people had access to God. 
They had recently reformed his worship, and returned to the 
observance of his ordinances and his law. With a clear con- 
science and a strong faith, Hezekiah spread the case before the 
Lord, and sent a message to Isaiah the prophet, saying, ' ' This 
is a day of trouble and rebuke and blasphemy — wherefore lift 
up thy prayer for the remnant that is left. ' ' At once an answer 
of peace was given, and the same night an angel of God, with 
invisible hand, destroyed the arm of flesh in which his enemies 
had trusted. Here was an example most encouraging, for Jere- 
miah to imitate. But he seems to be without hope. Instead 
of praying, he only weeps, and vents his sorrow in touching la- 
mentations over calamities which were now inevitable. 

But why inevitable ? Not because their Almighty deliverer 
was less able to succour and save, but because Israel had sinned 
against him in such a manner, and for so long a time, and up to 
such a point of aggravation, that he would not, and according 
to his established methods of dealing with men, could not, 
interfere, to save them from evils which were of their own pro- 
curing. Hence the prophet sought in vain for any ground of 
hope or source of consolation. ' ' When, ' ' says he, ' ' I would 
comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me:" and 
that which in particular distressed him, was the thought that 
these terrible and destructive judgments might have been 
averted by timely repentance, and were now become certain, 
only through the thoughtless and wicked unbelief of Israel. A 



84 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

day of merciful visitation had been afforded, but instead of fill- 
ing it up with works of piety, and virtue, they had spent it in 
self-indulgence, and now they must take the consequences of 
their folly and wickedness. u The harvest is past, the sum- 
mer is ended, and they are not saved. ' ' 

The parallel between the circumstances of the Jewish people, 
and the condition of men who have sinned away their day of 
grace, is so obvious that this passage which bewails the hopeless 
misery of Israel, has been commonly applied to the latter sub- 
ject ; and it suggests to the mind of almost every one who reads 
or hears it, this high and solemn application. That its primary 
and intended reference was to a temporal deliverance, and 
not to a spiritual and eternal salvation, there is little or no rea- 
son to doubt, and we are not in any such need of proof-texts as 
to be even tempted to press this into a service which it was 
never meant to perform. 

All we want and design to use, is the principle it recognizes, 
of a probation allotted to men, in which they act a part that 
tells influentially and for ever on their condition: a "summer" 
in which they may lay up in store a good foundation against the 
winter of their necessity ; a " harvest ' ' season, whose brief and 
earnest reaping may garner fruit unto life eternal. The point of view 
from which it is regarded in the text is one, which, through the 
mercy of Grod, we have not yet reached, and the only possible rea- 
son we could have for carrying you forward to it in thought is to 
prevent you ever coming to it in fact. To look back with vain re- 
grets, and keen remorse, on opportunities unimproved, time mis- 
spent,faculties and powers unemployed and undeveloped, and above 
all, to survey, from the verge of our earthly existence, a whole life 
that has failed of the very end and object of our creation, is the 
saddest of all possible experiences. In apprehension and fear of 



V.] HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. S5 

such a dreadful failure, let us dwell for a little, on the nature and 
characteristics of the harvest- time and summer season which God 
affords us for the purpose of our salvation ; the liability and temp- 
tation we are under to let it pass without improvement ; and the 
extreme and remediless misery of those who yield to this tempta- 
tion, living for another purpose than that which God designs. 

In the mercy of Heaven, we have a season of gracious 
visitation — a period of wondrous possibilities and blessed oppor- 
tunities — a portion of our immortal existence, in which a brief 
fidelity insures unending bliss, or an equally short neglect of 
duty leads to incurable and everlasting sorrow. 

This probation, we say, is given to men in mercy. It was 
goodness in God to put the angels on trial, for a limited period 
after their creation, instead of keeping them for ever on a foot- 
ing of trial, and, of course, of uncertainty, being liable to fall 
and perish, as a part of them did. It was goodness that or- 
dained the probation of Eden, which, though it involved the 
possibility of a fearful lapse, limited the possibility to a narrow 
space, and gave the opportunity of securing a holy and happy 
life by the obedience of an hour, and fidelity in a single instance. 

If it was love to his creatures which moved God to give them 
a probation in their estate of holiness for its confirmation and 
perpetuity, it is nothing short of tender and infinite mercy that 
assigns to fallen and condemned sinners a state and period of 
gracious trial for their recovery and salvation. Our natural 
condition — "by nature children of wrath" — is that of creatures 
who have failed under a previous probation, and who might be 
justly left to suffer the consequences of that old forfeiture. To 
such it is that God, in the riches of his grace, gives a new trial 
under the gospel and through Jesus Christ. The first trial in 
paradise was given to man as a creature ; the second is given 



86 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

him as a sinner, and is accompanied with abundant indications 
and express statements of its being the last he will ever know. 
Its essential idea, as is that of all probation, whether on princi- 
ples of law or principles of grace, is that the fleeting present 
may be made to govern the unchangeable and eternal future ; 
that a little portion of our existence at its beginning shall stand 
in such a connexion of influence and power with what remains, 
as to determine its character, whether of weal or woe, and that 
thus all possible motions to well-doing should converge upon 
the manner of life we lead while in the flesh. That this method 
of dealing with voluntary agents and responsible creatures has 
its foundations laid deep in the principles of God's moral and 
natural government we know, from finding that life, in all its 
relations and interests, is subject to its control. The general 
laws by which the world is governed, are a continual discipline 
and probation of mankind. They create ' ' times and seasons' ' 
for every purpose under the sun ; times and seasons when that 
purpose may be accomplished, but carry for ever away in their 
flight the possibility of doing the work, or securing the advan- 
tage which belonged to them. 

Such a law is that of the seasons, to which the text has refer- 
ence. The image presented is that of a field of grain ready for 
the sickle. Like the field for spiritual husbandry, of which the 
Saviour spoke, it " is white already to harvest." For months 
it has been maturing ; through all vicissitudes of weather it has 
advanced to its present point of peculiar interest and critical 
importance. It is now not only ready to be gathered, but im- 
peratively requires the reaper's toil. A few days, or, at most, 
a few weeks of neglect, and it utterly perishes ; and with it is 
lost the blessing which the kindness and care of Providence had 
placed within the farmer's grasp. Time may come to him after- 



V.] HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 87 

wards, but those weeks of harvest-time will never come again. 
The loss is irreparable ; and cultivators of the earth, knowing 
this, make diligent improvement of this golden season. 

When the summer ends, all its opportunities and possibilities 
end with it. Such is the law, fixed as the everlasting hills, with 
which we have to do : and of its operation none have any reason 
to complain, and none, in fact, do complain but the man who 
violates it. The industrious and prudent husbandman who, 
when the summer is ended, and the winter with its desolateness 
has come, finds his barns filled with plenty, blesses the benefi- 
cent law of the seasons ; and only the sluggard complains — and 
he without cause — when he suffers the penalty of indolence and 
folly. Another natural analogy is found in the kind of relation 
which exists between youth and age. 

The latter is what the former makes it. The beginning of 
life shapes its middle and its end. 

It is the seed-time in which the germs of character are 
planted ; the moulding period in which habits take their abiding 
shape ; the school-days in which the education of our whole ex- 
istence is received. At this plastic period, a month leaves deeper 
traces on the character, than a year of middle age, or a score of 
years next the close of life. 

As the rivulet, which rises on the mountain-top, takes, within 
a little distance of its source, the general direction in which the 
mighty river shall flow for thousands of miles, so it is with the 
stream of human existence. The acts, the impulses, the inci- 
dents, and the influences which determine its course and pre- 
pare its channel, are located near its commencement, where 
alone it is possible to exert so great a power. Human skill and 
strength might control and change the course of a stream on the 
sides of the Alleghanies, but what power less than that of Om- 



88 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei\ 

nipotence, could arrest the flow or alter the direction of the Mis- 
sissippi, or the Amazon ? It is the same with the course of hu- 
man character and life. Its beginnings are everything. If these 
are in the right direction, they ensure an endless career of well- 
doing, and of happiness : but who shall cure the fatal mistake 
of early misdirection ? 

Who shall bring back to the idle and truant school-boy, who 
has doomed himself to a life-long ignorance, the opportunity of 
education ; the leisure of childhood, the quick discernment, the 
tenacious memory, the eager curiosity, which render the youth- 
ful mind susceptible of discipline and development ? The thing 
is naturally impossible, and requires a miracle which God has 
never been known to perform. 

A law which thus operates in external nature, and in human 
life, yielding only beneficial results to those who regard it, might 
be presumed to have scope also in the sphere of morals and re- 
ligion, and to exert a decisive influence on the future and eternal 
destiny of the soul. What experience thus renders probable, 
revelation declares to be true : and there is no reason at all to 
doubt, that the law in question is just as necessary, benevolent, 
and holy, in this last connexion, which we know by faith, as in 
the former relation, which we know by experience. There is, 
then, a harvest-time, and a summer-season, in which salvation 
may be secured, but after which this blessed possibility is gone 
for ever. 

As youth, with its capabilities and freshness, never returns in 
the life of man ; and opportunities — the rare conjunctures of many 
conditions — once knock at our door, and then vanish ; so the day 
of salvation, the accepted time of Heaven's love, is of short con- 
tinuance. Short, not because that love is small, but because it 
is great. 



V.] HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 89 

Born and destined to an existence which shall never end, the 
character of that existence, whether of purity or of sin, and the 
condition of that existence, whether of happiness or misery, is 
dependent on the hand-breadth, yea, in comparison with eternal 
duration, the hair-breadth, of time which we spend on earth ! 
If this announcement startles you, and you feel perplexed in 
your attempt to reconcile with Divine goodness a method of 
procedure which leaves no room for repentance through ever- 
lasting ages, for a sin that was committed in time, and shuts men 
up at the very outset of their being to the choice of the path 
they will travel for ever ; — there are two or three things which 
it would be wise and well to consider. If they fail to give com- 
plete satisfaction to the understanding, they may at least indi- 
cate the course of duty and safety. The first suggestion I offer 
is, that if such he the law of our condition there is no manner 
of use in cavilling at its existence. We cannot annul the law, 
nor escape from its operation. Whether we will or not, it will 
fix our condition in a future life, according as we improve or ne- 
glect present opportunities. What a wise man cannot alter or 
remove, he conforms to, adjusting his conduct to his circum- 
stances. There is no advantage in quarrelling with facts, or 
struggling against necessity. If a man runs against a natural 
law, it will hurl him to death with remorseless violence. 

And there is no reason to doubt, but, on the contrary, many 
reasons to believe that this great moral law and principle of a 
short earthly probation, will deal in like manner with those who 
either disbelieve or despise it. It is our wisdom just to accept 
the conditions of life and of salvation under which God has 
placed us. 

Another suggestion, which goes far to vindicate this feature of 

the Divine government, and especially to show its consistency 

8* 



90 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

with a dependence upon the mercy and goodness of God, is the 
obvious truth, that a short 'probation strengthens and intensifies, 
in proportion to its brevity, the motives and helps to a holy life. 

If the benumbed conscience of a sinner will ever awake from 
its torpor, and the regard a man has for his own well-being, will 
ever rise above the sphere of his animal wants and earthly ne- 
cessities, and entertain the question of what is to become of him 
when he goes to the world of spirits ; and if in any circumstances 
the fear of God will stir the soul to action, it must assuredly be 
when men are told that their eternal salvation depends upon 
their manner of life in these fleeting years of an earthly exist- 
ence ! What an amazing concentration of moral power does this 
secure, and bring to bear on heart, conscience, reason, sen- 
sibility ! 

As the lens converges the rays of light, and brings them to- 
gether in a blazing focus, so does this gracious principle of a 
short probation for immortal creatures collect and pour upon 
their souls u the powers of the world to come" — the attractive 
influences of a blessed and holy immortality — the flashing terrors 
of the death that never dies ! As it is, delay is the fatal snare 
of unwary souls : procrastination, the commonest and deadliest 
of all the sinner's temptations! 

Even now, when he knows that his end is near, and may be 
at the door, he says in his heart, " My Lord delay eth his com- 
ing, ' ' and accordingly resigns himself to carnal indulgences and 
the neglect of his duty, and is surprised by the coming of death 
and judgment at an hour when he thinks not. "With what aug- 
mented power would this temptation assail him, if, instead of 
threescore and ten, his probation were ten thousand years ; and into 
what a profound slumber of sensuality and ungodliness would he 
sink, if it were known or believed that the sins and errors of the life 



V.] HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 91 

that now is might be repented of and repaired in that which is 
to come ! If sinful men are ever to be recovered to holiness and 
God, and started on a career of immortal happiness, it would 
seem as if it must be done by bringing the whole power of the 
eternal future to bear upon the fleeting present, and causing 
them to feel that they are in the crisis of their destiny every 
moment of their lives*. It is, therefore, not justice, but mercy 
which gives to man a probation on earth ; and there is as much 
mercy in making it short, as in granting it at all. 

Our third suggestion on this point regards the peculiarly gra- 
cious nature of the probation which men enjoy under the dis- 
pensation of the gospel, and through the mediation of the Lord 
Jesus Christ. It is gracious in its continuance. Though short, 
it is long enough for its purpose. Life is given to men to se- 
cure an interest in Christ, to work out their salvation, and it 
affords ample time and abundant opportunity. Some prosecute 
this work for nearly a century : others complete it in the days 
of their youth, and go up to the glories of heaven very soon 
after they have tasted the joy of salvation. 

To both, the day of grace was long enough. And not in its 
duration only, but with respect to all those acts and provisions 
on the part of God, which constitute life a harvest and a sum- 
mer with regard to the future, it is a day of gracious visita- 
tion. 

You rejoice in the benignant care of Providence which ordains 
the seasons, brings, in its time, the genial warmth of spring, 
with its shining skies, its refreshing showers, and its balmy air : 
and when you see how earth, and clouds, and sun, with all their 
subtle agencies, conspire to make the easy possibility of a har- 
vest, to any man who heeds the suggestion and concurs in the 
working of the Creator, you feel an honest indignation at the 



92 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

sluggard who neglects to use this kind and wonderful provision 
for the supply of his wants and the improvement of his con- 
dition. 

Many persons who perceive and appreciate this, do not see so 
clearly, nor consider so well, that the Grod of salvation has pur- 
sued the same method in the sphere of man's spiritual nature, 
and encompassed him with ordinances of ^religion and means of 
grace, which put within his reach blessings of infinite worth and 
eternal duration. Just as we incline to overlook the goodness 
revealed in the greatest natural blessings, such as the light, the 
air, and the seasons, because our enjoyment of them is constant: 
so, from frequent repetition and its perpetual presence, the glo- 
rious mystery of redemption which is disclosed in the gospel 
and made visible in the church, fails to impress us with its real 
character. It seems a thing of course, and so, a thing of naught. 
Through this inconsideration, men are little aware how much 
God has done and is doing every hour of their lives, to open be- 
fore them a door of hope, and give them a day of grace. 

As to means, what more could they have or wish than those 
already given ; the throne of grace, always accessible to all sin- 
ners, by night, by day, at home, abroad, in the closet, or on the 
street : the Scriptures, in the tongue wherein they were born, 
revealing the mind of Grod in terms and style level to the under- 
standing of a child, and making the way of life so plain that the 
wayfaring man, though a fool, need not err therein; the Sab- 
bath, returning every week to break the chain of worldly 
thoughts, and lift the soul to a purer world, and lead it forward 
to the everlasting rest ; the ministry of reconciliation, commis- 
sioned to offer, in Christ's stead, salvation to sinners, and by 
doctrine, warning, persuasion, and reproof, beseech them to 
accept it. 



V.] HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 93 

And with means and above them, the mediation and interces- 
sion of the Lord Jesus Christ, on his priestly throne, and the influ- 
ence of the Holy Spirit, sent forth to convince of sin, to convert 
the soul, and reveal the Saviour's glory! Such are the condi- 
dition and surroundings of the sinner every day and every hour 
of his life-time, under the dispensation of heavenly love. Is 
it not a day of merciful visitation, radiant with bright tokens of 
the love of God? 

But while all its parts and stages are precious opportunities 
of salvation, there are times and seasons corresponding to those 
critical portions of the natural year, in which more may be done 
in a day of seed-sowing, or of harvesting the ripe grain, than 
during a much longer period in different circumstances. Such 
an auspicious opportunity is the season of youth, when the re- 
ligious sensibilities exhibit a tenderness which, if it be trifled 
with and resisted, rapidly disappears. 

Such an occasion is the hour of affliction, when the hand of 
God presses heavily upon us, disappointing our earthly hopes, 
or smiting the idol of our affections : and such, peculiarly and 
pre-eminently, is the time when the Spirit of God is poured out 
on the church and on our fellow-sinners, and, in sovereign love, 
upon our own hearts, awakening the conviction of sin, and the 
desire to be saved. This is God's nearest approach ! the direct, 
personal, urgent persuasion of Divine grace. It is a moment of 
unspeakable solemnity — of infinite value! It is the " harvest" 
time — the summer season — of an immortal existence. 

It is in such aspects and elements of our probation as these, 
that the evidence of God's love appears, and the grounds of his 
justification are finished, when he leaves the sinner who fails to 
improve it to the inevitable results of his own folly and wicked- 
ness. And of all conditions and experiences, none is more dis- 



94 truth in love. [Ser. 

tressing than that of him who at length awakes to the fact that 
the day of his visitation has gone, and, along with others like 
himself, takes up the bitter and fruitless plaint : c ' The harvest 
is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." His cup 
of wo lacks no element of sorrow. Worse than the positive in- 
fliction of Divine justice, is the ever present memory of wasted 
probation and a slighted Saviour. He remembers the time 
when the door of mercy and of heaven, now shut, stood invit- 
ingly open : when celestial voices called, and Divine attractions 
drew, and his own faithful conscience urged him to choose the 
better part. He recurs to the days of his youth, and to seasons 
of revival, and sacred communions, when he could scarcely re- 
frain from following his companions into the kingdom of heaven, 
so pressing was the importunity of the Divine call : and along 
with this comes the recollection of that fatal act and hour in 
which he put away the offer of life, and destroyed for ever the 
possibility of salvation. The conviction that he has ' ' destroyed 
himself" will penetrate his soul, and this will be the acme of 
his wretchedness. The blame of his perdition will settle eter- 
nally upon himself. The cavils and excuses by which this solemn 
truth is now disguised will vanish in the light of eternity, and 
amid the stern realities of the judgment-day. The Bible, the 
church, the cross, the mercy-seat, the Holy Spirit will not suffer 
him to impute his ruin to God, and conscience will charge it 
home upon himself with an authority which he will not even try 
to resist. 

Living men think they will never come to such a condition as 
this ; some, through unbelief in the reality of future and eternal 
retribution ; others, and these a great multitude, from the per- 
suasion that they will make a better improvement of that por- 
tion of their day of grace which remains, than of the part which 



V. J HARVEST TIME NEGLECTED. 95 

is past. If you are yet in your sins, I acknowledge that your 
only hope of salvation depends on so doing ; but I must remind 
you that many, with the same thought in their hearts, have 
lived and died in impenitence. It is one of the commonest 
things in the world, for men not to know their opportunity. In 
reference to worldly interests, 

" There is a tide in the affairs of men, 
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune f 

but how few discern the exact time, and go up with the swelling 
stream ! How often we hear men regretting that they had not 
acted differently at some former time, and in a critical conjuncture ! 
Yet, in a comparative view, men are keen-sighted in reference to 
secular concerns. Notwithstanding frequent oversights, they are 
wise in their generation as men of the world, but strangely blind 
to the wondrous opportunity which the mercy of Heaven puts di- 
rectly in their pathway, and obtrusively urges on their attention. 

This, my friends, is your greatest danger. While the hours 
of your probation are flitting by, and carrying up the witness of 
your continued unbelief to the book o.f remembrance, you are 
seeking to quiet the fears and silence the remonstrance of heart 
and conscience, by the promise of acting a different part at an- 
other day, and making a portion of your probation accomplish 
the purpose for which the whole of it is not too much. 

To act thus, in any other connexion, would expose you to the 
suspicion of insanity, and would be the height of folly. It is 
shamed, as the prophet teaches in the very connexion of the 
text, by the instinct of birds, and, according to Isaiah, by the 
dumbest of the brute creation. ' ' Every one turned to his course, 
as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the 
heaven knoweth her appointed times : and the turtle, and the 
crane, and the swallow, observe the time of their coming : but 



96 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

my people know not the judgment of the Lord." In fable and 
history, the ass is the symbol of stupidity : but God, in the 
importunity of his desire to rouse men from the sleep of their 
death-like torpor, even rates their folly below this stigmatized 
creature. "The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's 
crib, but Israel doth not know : my people doth not consider." 

One of the most affecting incidents in the life of our blessed 
Redeemer was occasioned by the exhibition of this folly carried 
to its highest and last degree. In point of privilege and oppor- 
tunity, Jerusalem was nearer to God and heaven than any 
other city of earth : and the day of its grace was longer and 
more precious than is wont to be accorded to mortals. There 
stood the temple in its material glory, and there were clustered 
the emblems and exponents of the presence and grace of God. 
To this people had come the prophets in long succession, and 
now, He to whom the prophets bare witness. But all in vain ; 
and already, the vengeful cloud of wrath is seen gathering over 
the doomed city. Over this, it was, that "Jesus wept," and 
while his tears flowed, exclaimed, — "If thou hadst known, even 
thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy 
peace ! but now they are hid from thine eyes. For the days 
shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench 
about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every 
side, and shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy chil- 
dren within thee : and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon 
another: because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation." 

By the errors and sufferings of others, be admonished. Pro- 
bation may be wasted : and, if you are yet in your sins, there is 
imminent danger of wasting yours, and of losing your soul. c ' Be- 
hold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the day of sal- 
vation." 



VI. 1 THE SIN OP NOT LOVING CHRIST. 97 



SERMON VI. 

THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 

1 Cor. xvi. 22. — If any man love not the Lord Jesus CJirtst, let 
Mm be Anathema, Maran-atha. 

These words stand at the close of one of Paul's longest epis- 
tles. Without any special relation to what precedes, they have 
an intimate general relation to the whole gospel of Jesus Christ. 
They give the impression that a devout and enlightened 
mind receives from the contemplating the glorious mystery of 
redeeming love, which, while it bestows on men infinite bless- 
ings, lays upon them unspeakable responsibilities. The passage, 
instead of being weakened by want of logical connexion, is the 
more impressive on account of its seeming isolation. It was at 
this point, the venerable man of God took the pen from his 
amanuensis, who had been writing at his dictation, and, to cer- 
tify the genuineness of the epistle, appended the salutation with 
his ' ' own hand. ' ' In three brief sentences, he gives his Chris- 
tian greetings to his brethren, the apostolic benediction to the 
church, and utters this woe against every man who loves not the 
Lord Jesus Christ. The circumstance^ that the original words 
were traced by the apostle's own hand, though it does not ren- 
der their truth more certain, nor invest them with any higher 
authority, throws around them a certain interest ; and the fact 



98 TRUTH IN LOVE. |_Ser. 

of their finding a place in these few closing sentences, carries 
with it an impression of their pre-eminent importance. 

But why gather extrinsic proofs when the passage shines in 
its own effulgent light ? Without comment or illustration, its 
clear, simple, solemn meaning goes right to the heart and con- 
science : and even those foreign and untranslated words at its 
close, are sufficiently illuminated by what precedes, to assure us 
that they can mean nothing less, or else, than something most 
terrible and awful. In approaching a theme like this, it is 
vastly important that we should be governed by the same spirit 
which influenced the apostle in penning the text. Though he 
uttered a fearful truth — in fact, pronounced a malediction, he 
did not dip his pen in wormwood and gall to write it, nor was 
there one drop of bitterness in his spirit. 

It was said with the same melting compassion for souls, in 
which, at another time, he said that he u Could wish himself 
Anathema from Christ, for his brethren," if such a sacrifice were 
either useful or admissible. It was spoken from the stand-point 
of one who was labouring to save sinners from the curse of God, 
not from that of one sitting upon a throne of judgment, and 
allotting to men the award of final retribution. In this temper 
of humility and tenderness, let us now endeavour to handle and 
heed the subject before us. It breathes love, yet speaks of 
wrath. Its power as a warning, depends on the terrors of the 
Anathema denounced against " any man" who commits the sin, 
and bears the character, and stands in the relation to Christ, 
which is here expressed. Though the case is put contingently, 
it is not because it never had occurred, in fact, and was only 
possible in the future. It is an expression like that of the apos- 
tle John, when to introduce and commend the intercession of 
Jesus Christ, he puts an " if" before the universal fact of hu- 



VI.] THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 99 

man sinfulness — "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the 
Father, ' ' where the logical supposition is really the positive as- 
sertion of a well-known fact. Thus, when the apostle speaks 
conditionally of any man's not loving the Lord Jesus Christ, it 
does not imply that such characters had not yet appeared in the 
world, or were barely possible to exist. 

The truth is quite the reverse : and there is no sort of injus- 
tice or impropriety in saying of some persons that they do not 
love the Lord Jesus Christ. They do not profess to. They ad- 
mit the fact, and what is more, in making the admission, they 
do not feel as if they had confessed a deadly crime. 

Others, however, may join issue on the question of fact ; and, 
before proceeding to illustrate the wickedness of not loving 
Christ, we may advert to some of the indications that no such 
affection has place in the soul. Without intending so much, 
men often acknowledge this to be the case. When a man says 
that he feels no particular interest in the subject of personal re- 
ligion ; that he thinks of it at times, and expects to give it more 
consideration in future, the true rendering of all this is, that he 
does not love Christ ; but, since to confess this in words, would 
be to let out a startling and fearful truth, it is softened by cir- 
cumlocution and qualified phrases. Want of love to Jesus is 
the meaning of every excuse for the neglect of religion, and the 
root of that entire life of prayerless impotency which multitudes 
lead. And there are those, no doubt, who, shocked at the utter 
depravity of having no love at all for such a person as Christ, 
persuade themselves that their hearts are not wholly destitute 
of the feeling. A dim and shadowy image of his Divine-human 
perfection floats before their minds, and they admire it. They 
listen to the precepts of his heavenly morality, and their con- 
science assents to them as good. They read the record of his 



100 truth in love. [Ser. 

pure and blameless life ; his unselfish devotion to the relief and 
salvation of suffering humanity ; and when they gaze upon the 
mysterious sorrows and sublime heroism of his last hours, their 
sensibilities are touched, and they accord him the praise of a 
philanthropist and a martyr : and this they bring forward to 
qualify, if not to refute the accusation of being without love to 
him. But what is there in it all, more or different than the ad- 
miration which men feel in reading the history and listening to 
the wisdom of Socrates, or the emotion awakened by the virtue 
and the sufferings of any of those martyrs to the cause of human 
rights and liberty who are immortalized in the pages of the 
world's history? Nay, I might even ask, How much does it 
rise above that sentimental admiration of virtue and sympathy 
with suffering which is often lavished on the heroes of a fictitious 
story? To admire virtue is a very different thing from practis- 
ing it, and to approve what Christ has said, and done, and suf- 
fered, falls infinitely short of that adoring and clinging love to 
his glorious Person which the apostle intends, and which is the 
beginning, the middle, and the end of personal religion. The 
Christian who claims this love is not a doctrine, or a fact, or an 
example which belongs to the history of a past age, but a living 
and Divine person who sustains to us the most intimate and sa- 
cred relations — coming to us as really and directly as to Simon 
Peter, at the sea of Galilee, with the home- thrusting inquiry — ■ 
" Lovest thou me?" The nature and the reality of the love are 
determined by the nature, the character, and the claims of Him 
to whom it is due. The love in question is that which right- 
fully belongs to our incarnate God and Saviour. It is not a su- 
perficial and fruitless sentiment of admiration for something He 
has said, or something he has done, but it is an adoring reve- 
rence for his Divine Majesty, a complacent delight in his spotless 



VI.] THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 101 

purity, a confiding dependence on his truth and grace, and such 
a grateful sense of his redeeming mercy to the soul as ' ' con- 
strains" to worship, obey, and follow him! Is there such a pas- 
sion in your soul? Be assured that love to Christ is as real, 
conscious, warm, and practical an affection as is any other love, 
and only differs from our earthly loves by being unutterably 
more profound, sacred, and enduring. In the sense of such an 
affection as this, can you say that you do love the Lord Jesus 
Christ? If still you think so, then let me ask for the visible 
and convincing proofs of its existence ; or, rather, let me invite 
you to reconcile the idea of its existence in your heart, with cer- 
tain facts which stand out boldly to view in the life of many who 
show outward respect to the ordinances and institutions of re- 
ligion. 

The proverb says that ' ' Open rebuke is better than secret love, ' ? 
for the reason, I presume, that love, which is so secret as never 
to show itself in word or deed, is presumed to have no existence, or, 
at the best, to be of a very suspicious quality. It is not the nature 
of love to be silent and motionless. It is essentially demon- 
strative. It seeks occasion to express itself to the object of 
its admiration and delight : and especially is this true of that ab- 
sorbing love to Jesus which the Spirit of God sheds abroad in the 
believing heart. Can such aD affection possibly have room and free 
activity in the souls of those who never seek to have private, inti- 
mate, and, as it were, confidential intercourse with him in prayer? 
Who even repel his advances, and when he knocks, wishing to come 
in and show his love, shut the door in his face, and bid him depart? 
And when he spreads his table, with the memorials of his pas- 
sion, and bids his disciples receive them in thankful remem- 
brance of his sorrow, and as the pledges of mutual and everlast- 
ing friendship, is it love to Christ that occasions your absence? 
9 * 



102 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Scr. 

or is that absence capable of being reconciled with the existence 
in your soul of true love and loyalty to his person and his 
cause ? 

Jesus is not so much an object to be contemplated as an ex- 
ample to be followed, and a Master to be served : and his own 
test of love and fealty is obedience to his commandments. "He 
that loveth me not, keepeth not my sayings." One of his say- 
ings is — "Enter into thy closet and pray." Do you? An- 
other is — "Repent and be converted." Have you any expe- 
rimental knowledge of godly sorrow and the repentance which 
is unto salvation? Over the gate-way to his kingdom, he has 
inscribed "Self-denial" as the condition of discipleship, and 
the way to heaven. Is this the manner of life which, for Jesus 
Christ's sake, you are leading? Or, is it a fact, clear to your 
own consciousness, and evident to those who observe your con- 
duct, that self-indulgence is th.Q regulating principle of your be- 
haviour? From points like these, mankind divide and diverge 
— the few defiling into the "narrow way" of self-denial, in obe- 
dience to Christ ; the multitude keeping on in the ' ' broad road ' ' 
of self-gratification, walking in the ways of their own hearts, and 
in the sight of their own eyes : and because such a life is forbid- 
den by Jesus Christ, those who thus live are guilty of persist- 
ent rebellion against his authority, and stand convicted of, — at 
least, the want of his love. 

From such facts, we might proceed to arraign many persons 
on a graver indictment, than even this which is expressed in the 
text. Beyond the negative crime of not loving Christ, we 
might charge them with being under the power of an opposite 
feeling. We might argue, that in a case like this, if there be 
no love, there can be no indifference, and must be enmity. We 
might quote the Saviour's own decisive declaration, that whoso- 



VI.] THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 103 

ever is "not with him, is against him," and show that in the 
conflict between the church and the world, truth and error, 
good and evil, Christ and the devil, there neither is nor can be 
either indifference of feeling or neutrality of position : but this 
is unnecessary, and we forbear. 

The text speaks not of such as hate and oppose, but of those 
who love not the Lord Jesus Christ, and we need not transcend 
the letter of the proposition. And it may be admitted, that 
while there is no possibility of a man's being wholly neutral in 
spirit and attitude toward Christ and his cause, there may be, 
and manifestly there are, degrees of that sinful state of heart, 
which causes multitudes to stand aloof from Christian vows and 
church fellowship. 

In some, it is indifference, in others aversion, in a third class, 
open and unrelenting hostility. 

Some "care for none of these things," some cavil at the doc- 
trines, and spurn the restraints of Christianity, and some, like 
Saul of Tarsus, persecute its professors, and seek its extirpation 
from the earth. It would be altogether unjust and untrue to 
charge without discrimination, all these degrees and forms of 
opposition to Christ, upon all unconverted persons; but it is 
neither untrue nor unjust to lay at their doors, and on their con- 
sciences, the accusation, that they do not love Jesus ! This, 
they cannot deny, and there is not one among all the multitudes 
of the unbelieving of whom it is not true. 

And here, I drop the question of fact, and leave each of you, 
under the convictions of truth, and the sense of your responsi- 
bility to God, to find the place which belongs to you, among 
those who say with trembling and with tears, "Lord, thou 
knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee;" or with 
such as feel in all their souls that up to this day Christ has not 



104 truth in love. [Ser. 

been an object of love and a source of joy. Do I address any 
who have now taken this latter position ? Who, under the con- 
straints of truth and conscience, have confessed to themselves 
the fact that love to Christ has no place within them ? 

That it should cost you a struggle to make, or even approach 
such an acknowledgment is very natural, both because the thing 
confessed implies so much sin, and exposes you to so great dan- 
ger, but, on the other hand, it is to be considered, that confes- 
sion of the truth does not render the facts of the case any worse, 
and removes, at least, one impediment out of the way of your 
salvation. "He that covereth his sins, shall not prosper; but 
whoso confesseth and forsaketh them, shall have mercy. ' ' 

2. To forward, if possible, this blessed result, join with me in 
giving your close, patient, and impartial attention to the " ex- 
ceeding sinfulness 1 ' of not loving Jesus Christ The text throws 
this idea forward in high relief, by threatening the curse of God 
against those who are guilty of this particular sin : yet, in the 
whole catalogue of acts and omissions which the Scriptures con- 
demn, there is none of which it is so hard to fix the conviction 
in the conscience. And we encounter this singular feature in 
the spiritual character and condition of men, that the one sin 
which the Bible holds up for especial reprobation, and delivers 
over to the severest punishment which God inflicts on any class 
of transgressors, is the one offence in reference to which they 
feel the slightest compunctions, and scarcely rate themselves a 
degree lower on the scale of morality because they are guilty of 
it. Their natural conscience condemns vices which war on their 
own bodies and minds, and crimes which war against the rights 
of others and the welfare of society ; they s ' approve the things 
that are excellent, ' ' and, according as they were guilty or innocent 
of the impeachment, their cheeks would mantle with shame, or 



VI.] THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 105 

burn with Indignation, if accused of violating these fundamental 
moralities of life and society. But observe them under the 
charge, or when they make the frank acknowledgment that they 
have no love for Jesus Christ ! Do they blush, as at the confes- 
sion of a great moral delinquency? or grow indignant, as if the 
imputation were deeply damaging to their character? Nothing 
of the sort. They treat it as the merest peccadillo, less, im- 
measurably less, than the utterance of a lie, or the theft of a 
dollar. 

In fact and experience, not loving Christ is no sin, according 
to their habitual modes of thinking and rules of action. But if, 
according to the teachings of Scripture, it be not only a sin, but 
the very essence and aggravation of human wickedness, it is a 
question of interest, why a conscience which, with promptness 
and power, condemns immorality and vice, bears so faint and 
unfelt a testimony against the sin of withholding our hearts 
from the Son of God. 

This inquiry opens a wide field of remark, on which our pur- 
pose does not allow us to enter ; and we will only suggest, as a 
key to the solution of the problem, the fact that sin, by its very 
nature, extinguishes, totally, and completely, every spark of love 
to God in the soul, while it leaves the personal and domestic, 
social and public, moralities of human nature, if not undamaged, 
certainly undestroyed. Total depravity is total ungodliness. Pub- 
licans and sinners who love their friends very much, do not love 
God at all ; and this is the reason, in its root, why, when God 
comes to men in the person of his Son, they see in him "no 
beauty, ' ' and turn away with indifference or aversion. "We can- 
not, then, conclude that, because the conscience of men does not 
anathematize the sinner who has no love to Christ, therefore 
God does not. "We must consult truer oracles than our own 



106 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

blinded hearts. If you have read the New Testament with any 
care, you must know that sins against Jesus Christ are those 
which it signalizes as exposing the sinner to the deepest dis- 
pleasure of God, and as consigning the soul to the most intolera- 
ble of the woes of eternity. You remember how Jesus himself 
upbraided the cities in which his mighty works were done, be- 
cause of their unbelief and impenitency, and how he declared 
that, in the day of judgment, it would fare worse with them 
than with Sodomites and heathens ; and, having once heard, 
can you ever forget the solemn declaration, that "he that be- 
lieveth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed 
in the name of the only-begotten Son of God ;" and that " the 
condemnation" which will burn its blasting curse most deeply 
into the soul, is the fact that " light has come into the world, 
and men have loved darkness rather than light?" The man 
who, by impenitence and unbelief, turns his back on Christ, and 
thus counts himself unworthy of eternal life, is appointed to 
" severer punishment" than befel the sinners of a past dispen- 
sation, or will overtake idolaters in the day of judgment. Such 
is the estimate in which G-od holds the sin of which men make 
so little. To ask why the want of love to Christ is so great an 
iniquity, is much the same as to inquire why sin against God is 
an evil so crimson in its guilt, so mortal in its effects. 

Yet there is a difference which may be rendered plain and 
palpable. 

God in Christ sustains new and peculiar relations to men, and 
these relations are evidently such as to enhance the guilt of 
those who do not act in conformity with their nature and pur- 
pose. 

And here all that is special and peculiar clusters about, 
and, in one relation or another, depends upon the unique and 



VI.] THE SIN OF NOT LOYING CHRIST. 107 

glorious character of Jesus, as the mediator between God and 
men. 

It implies and requires the mystery of his incarnation : the 
coming down among men in human form and earthly manifesta- 
tion of Him who dwelt from everlasting in the bosom of the 
Father, and who thought it no robbery to be equal with God. 
If in this we saw nothing more than the coming nigh of God to 
man, revealing himself under forms and conditions better adapted 
to our feeble apprehension, does it not even then bring us under 
a special obligation to recognize and love the manifested and 
present God? If we see in it the grace of a boundless conde- 
scension, in that He who was ' ' rich' ' in celestial glory allied 
himself with the deep poverty of a lapsed race, does not this, 
his voluntary humility, claim the grateful acknowledgment of 
all for whose sake it was submitted to? 

And if love returned be the right response for love shown ; 
and if its degree is to be measured by the intensity, the pains, 
the sacrifices of the love by which we are saved, then tell me, 
ye, who hide your faces from the Son of God, with ' ' what man- 
ner of love" you ought to regard him, who endured the cross, 
and despised the shame for you ? 

Or, if love is to be grounded upon and measured by the value 
of benefits conferred or offered, estimate, if you can, how much 
of it is due to Him whose blood washes away the guilt of ten 
thousand iniquities ; whose Spirit — free as the air you breathe, 
or the water you drink — purifies the heart from pollution ; and 
whose all-powerful mediation brings the sinner back, and up 
from his apostasy and death on earth, to everlasting life and un- 
utterable bliss in heaven ? With a redemption in his hands — 
the price of his labour and travail, of his tears, and his blood, 
' The mighty God," in the humility of man's flesh, stands with- 



108 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei\ 

out, and knocks at your heart's door, for no other purpose than 
to bless your precious soul, with this Divine and infinite bene- 
faction ! Or if we have respect to that element in the nature 
of love, which consists in the admiration of a character for its in- 
trinsic excellence, does not Jesus rise pre-eminent above all the 
sons of men, and the angelic natures of heaven, in his title to 
your affections ? 

The glory of the invisible God shines effulgent in his face ; 
grace is poured into his lips, and distils in words of unmatched 
sweetness from his tongue. "His heart is made of tender- 
ness. ' ' His life is beautified with super-human virtues. He is 
" altogether lovely." 

Saints on earth bless him ; the spirits of just men made per- 
fect in heaven, cast their crowns at his feet, and look up to his 
unveiled face with love and joy unspeakable and full of glory ; 
while an innumerable company of angels kindling with sympa- 
thetic adoration, join the alleluia that ascends around his throne, 
and shout — "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive 
power, and riches, and strength, and honour, and glory, and 
blessing. ' ' 

Such a Being as this it is, who claims your love, and only 
your love. He does not wish to make you servants but friends, 
taking you into his confidence, and preparing you to share his 
heavenly throne. " Give me thy heart," — this is the sum of all 
his demands : but you will not give it, and this is the sum and 
aggravation of your sin. You love him not. You neither de- 
light in his character, nor thank him for his salvation. You 
forget him, neglect him, disobey him, and perhaps, would be 
ashamed to have any one suppose that you were even seriously 
thinking of the duty you owe to him. This is a grievous wrong. 
In a world that hates him, and dishonours him, you refuse to enroll 



VI.] THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 109 

yourself under his banner, and never open your lips to repel the 
aspersions which are cast on his blessed cause and holy name. 

And, think you, my dear unconverted friend, that this may 
be done with safety ? Will a sin so great — so utterly without 
excuse — so contrary to the most sacred obligations, be allowed 
to pass with impunity ? 

It is a sin unto death, not only because it rejects the only re- 
demption, but because of its own inherent criminality. It, 
above other forms of transgression, " deserves the wrath of God, 
both in this world, and that which is to come. ' ' It exposes you 
even to c c the wrath of the Lamb. ' ' That meek sufferer, who was 
led as a sheep to the slaughter, and opened not his mouth to re- 
sent the blasphemous revilings of the wicked, will, one day, arise 
to avenge the injuries he has suffered, and to wipe away the 
reproach of his truth and grace. The salvation or the anathema 
of Jesus, is the dread alternative to which every one of us is 
shut up. "If any man love not — let him be anathema. ' ' 

A person or a thing is anathematized, when devoted to God 
for destruction. It does not hurt one to be thus dealt with by 
a false and apostate church, as the faithful have been in the 
ages past. Its curse is a blessing : but " it is a fearful thing 
to fall into the hands of the living God ;" and the anathema of 
Incarnate Love, if that be extorted from him by our sins, 
will torture and blast the soul for ever ! The fruitless fig-tree, 
withered immediately away under his curse, and was doomed to 
perpetual barrenness and death. The curse which the sin of 
man entailed on the earth, is so dire and destructive, that the 
whole creation travails in pain beneath its awful pressure. 

When our blessed Lord was nailed to the cross, he himself 

was anathema! for it is written, — "Cursed is every one that 

hangeth on a tree." 
10 



110 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

See how it tortures the soul of immaculate innocence ; and 
hearken how the incarnate God cries out under its dreadful bit- 
terness ! And if this was done in the green tree, what will be 
done in the dry? Can you bear to be accursed of God? Can 
you endure even to hear Jesus say, — "Depart from me, ye 
cursed, into the fire prepared for the devil and his angels ?" 

And terrible as the punishment is, it is certain to be inflicted. 
The holy apostle, who sacrificed himself for the salvation of 
men, wrote the words of the text with calmness, and gave his 
consent in advance to the doom of those who love not the Lord 
Jesus Christ ; and when the day of reckoning arrives, the judg- 
ment which delivers them over to the curse, will be approved by 
every human conscience, and every holy creature, and most of 
all, by Christ himself. Not in a spirit of vindictiveness, nor be- 
cause he is less merciful than when he wept over the coming 
woes of Jerusalem, but because the eternal righteousness of God 
demands it, Christ will, from his judgment-seat, anathematize 
every one that loves him not ! Nothing is more certain : and in 
assurance thereof, the apostle adds the mystic words, — " Maran- 
atha : " — " The Lord cometh. ' ' 

Because he has gone away out of the world, and we see him 
no more, men are emboldened in sin, and seem quite at ease in 
their unbelief. Their inward thought is that he will either 
never come at all, or not for so long a time that the event is 
unworthy of present attention. Against such a ruinous and 
wicked thought, these words are directed. c ' The Lord cometh. ' ' 
c ' The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night. ' ' " The 
Judge standeth before the door. ' ' And who may abide the day 
of his coming ; and who shall stand when he appeareth ? " Be- 
hold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and 
they also which pierced him ; and all kindreds of the earth shall 



VI. ] THE SIN OF NOT LOVING CHRIST. 11] 

wail because of him. With all his holy angels, he will come, de- 
scending in chariots of fire, ' ' taking vengeance on them that 
know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus 
Christ." 

In that immense assembly of a congregated world, you will be 
present : and it will seem to you, as if the eye of Jesus were 
withdrawn from every other creature, to concentrate its pierc- 
ing gaze and holy scrutiny on yourself. 

Are you ready for the meeting ? If you love him now, that 
will be the day of your redemption. If you love him not, and 
live on to the day of your death without loving him, it were 
good for you, if you had not been born. When your slumber- 
ing dust awakes, and you meet him in mid-air, you will cry to 
the rocks and mountains to cover and hide you from his face. 
There will be none to help you then. The wife, the sister, the 
parent, the pastor who now prays for you, and weeps over you, 
will then have finished each one his work: and even Jesus, 
who now u with melting heart and bleeding hands/' offers you 
salvation, will turn away from your cry of anguish and despair ! 
O ye, that love him not, consider this, lest ye perish. Why 
will ye die ? Jesus died to save you. He is this moment ready 
to save you : and he is able to save them to the uttermost, who 
come unto God by him, seeing that he ever liveth to make in- 
tercession for us. Beyond anything you have ever believed or 
imagined, Christ is urgent in the matter of your salvation. He 
yearns over you with tender compassion. He is waiting to hear 
you pray. He sues for admission to your heart. " Behold/ ' 
he says, "I stand at the door and knock." Hear his voice then, 
and open the door, that he may come in to you, and sup with 
you, and you with him. 



112 truth in love. [Ser. 



SEEMON VII. 
ABSALOM'S DEATH. 

2 Sam. xviii. 14, 15. 17. — And he took three darts in his hand, 
and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet 
alive in the midst of the oak. And ten young men that bare 
JoaVs armour compassed about and smote Absalom, and slew 
him. And they took Absalom, and cast him into a great pit in 
the wood, and laid a very great heap of stones upon him. 

The Scriptures abound with the record of men who walked 
with God on earth, and were afterward received into glory. And 
parallel with these, and perhaps, not less in number, we have 
the biography of those whose character deserves only execration, 
and whose c ' latter end, ' ' so far from being a thing to be desired, 
inspires only sentiments of fear and horror. They are not pat- 
terns, but warnings ; not models for imitation, but monuments 
reared upon the place of danger, " pillars of salt," that put us 
in remembrance of the sins which have ruined others. 

What these warnings lack therefore, in presenting nothing 
positive for imitation, they make up by appealing to sentiments 
and principles which exist in the hearts of all men. The exam- 
ples of the good and holy act with effectual power, only on those 
who have in some degree a corresponding character, and aspire 



VII. ] Absalom's death. 113 

to the same excellence ; while the example of sinners, the his- 
tory of whose crimes and judgments makes them a warning to 
men beset with like temptations, addresses itself to feelings 
which exist in every heart. All men dread evil, and desire to es- 
cape it, and when they see that sin entails misery and ruin on those 
who practise it, the depravity of their hearts is in a measure 
restrained, and in some instances, this fear may prove the germ 
of a thorough reformation, and eventuate in the conversion and 
salvation of the soul. In this view, we propose, as the subject of 
our present meditations, the death of Absalom, with such reflec- 
tions as the facts of his life may suggest. He did not die the c c com- 
mon death ' ' of men : and it is not upon any of the common aspects 
of death, as a fact in the history of our mortal race, that we pro- 
pose to speak, but only of the special lessons of this particular 
death. 

Its tragical nature, and the very peculiar manner in which it 
was brought about, besides investing it with an air of romance, 
fasten attention upon it as an act of Providence, and connect it 
with the antecedent life which came to this sad and sudden close. 
We cannot but look upon it as the punishment of a -great crime ; 
and when we consider who Absalom was, and the circumstances 
in which he was placed, his character and career may supply a 
useful and interesting study. The instruction it affords appears 
to lie mainly in two directions. His death may be considered in 
its relation to his own conduct and character, and also as it 
stands connected with that of his royal father, the king of Israel. 
Both aspects, taken together, may give us some insight into the 
principles and methods of Divine Providence. 

I. In the first place, view the death of Absalom as the natu- 
ral termination of a vicious career , and the just punishment of a 

great crime, " The wages of sin is death," and, sooner or later, 
10* 



114 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

they are certain to be paid. Sin, as a moral cause, operates 
with the same infallible certainty and irresistible power as phy- 
sical agencies do. A cannon-ball which strikes a man on the 
head, a mortal poison received into the stomach, or a consump- 
tion which feeds upon the most vital organs of the human sys- 
tem, is no more sure to work the death of the body, than sin is 
to effectuate that of the soul. In some of its forms it destroys 
both soul and body, and so manifestly begins the work of ruin 
in the present world, as to inspire fearful apprehensions of what 
it will accomplish hereafter, when it is " finished' ' in death eter- 
nal. The case of the ' ' young man Absalom' ' illustrates this 
position. It shows the connexion between sin and suffering — 
crime and punishment. Knowing his history, we naturally look 
for some signal expression of the Divine displeasure, and are 
not surprised at the swift and terrible retribution which over- 
took him. 

His crime was great. It involved many elements of turpitude 
and circumstances of aggravation. He was a conspirator and a 
rebel against the best government in the world. Not only was 
it a good and righteous government, but, in a high and peculiar 
sense, it was a Divine government. Its constitution and laws 
were enacted by God, revealed on Sinai, and, as to their essence, 
written by his own finger on tables of stone. And not this only, 
but the actual administration of it was sanctioned by the same 
high authority. The reigning king was designated and anointed 
by an inspired prophet. To resist him, was, in a special sense, 
to ( ' resist the ordinance of God ; ' ' and the attempt to subvert 
his authority, was, in effect, rebellion against the covenant-Grod 
of Israel. A second element and aggravation of his sin exists 
in the motives which prompted the guilty attempt to revolution- 
ize the government and usurp the throne. The whole scheme 



VII.] Absalom's death. 115 

proceeded from personal ambition. He had no wrongs to re- 
dress, no grievances to complain of, no great abuses and oppres- 
sions which he sought to remove. His aim was not to make a 
better government, but simply to get the reins of power into his 
own hands. David was growing old, and must needs soon re- 
sign the sceptre to other hands, and Solomon, by the appoint- 
ment of his father, and the higher intimations of Heaven, had 
been already indicated as his successor. To defeat this purpose, 
and to place the crown on his own head, was the whole scope 
and object of Absalom's undertaking. His motive was purely 
selfish, and his aim unlawful and unholy. Having a wicked end 
in view, he would not, of course, scruple to pursue it by means 
of the same nature ; and in these we have an added element of 
his crime, and a further exhibition of his character. 

With a view to render himself popular, he played the dema- 
gogue, and was as genuine a specimen of the class as any age or 
country has ever produced. He affected regal state, beginning 
to act the king, that men might think of him as one fit to fill 
the throne. 

He stationed himself in places of public concourse, and sought 
the acquaintance of the people. Without directly charging that 
the government was badly administered, he plainly hinted that 
such was the fact, and professed a very special and peculiar in- 
terest in persons whom he had never seen or heard of before : 
"And it was so, that when any man that had a controversy 
came to the king for judgment, then Absalom called unto him, 
and said, Of what city art thou? And he said, Thy servant is 
of one of the tribes of Israel. And Absalom said unto him, See, 
thy matters are good and right ; but there is no man deputed of 
the king to hear thee. Oh that I were made judge in the land, 
that every man which hath a suit or cause might come unto me, 



116 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

and I would do him justice. And it was so, that when any man 
came nigh to him to do him obeisance, he put forth his hand, 
and took him, and kissed him : so Absalom stole the hearts of 
flie men of Israel." To these low arts of the demagogue, he 
added the baseness of the hypocrite. When his plans were ma- 
tured, and the conspiracy was ready for development, he pre- 
tended that, years before, when he was an exile in G-eshur, a 
town of Syria, he had made a vow to worship and sacrifice unto 
the Lord in Hebron, in case he was brought again to his own 
country. It would seem the vow had lain lightly on his con- 
science for a long time, but now he pleads it as a pretext to ask 
permission to visit Hebron — a royal city where David himself 
had begun to reign — that, with the prestige of its fame and 
eminence, he might declare himself king, and rally the people 
to his standard. Pleased with his seeming piety, the request 
was readily granted, and the plot proceeded to its consumma- 
tion. The particulars thus far gleaned from the history are 
enough of themselves to prove the badness of his heart, and to 
stamp his name with infamy. Ambition, hypocrisy, trickery, 
and falsehood, culminating in open rebellion, constitute a crime 
of no ordinary dimensions ; but we have not named or adverted 
to the circumstance which imparts to the proceeding its chief 
malignity and wickedness: It was directed against his own 
father! It was highly criminal to make the attempt which he 
did, supposing that he intended simply to prevent Solomon from 
succeeding to the throne to which he had been chosen according 
to the forms, and in the spirit of their theocratic constitution. 
And for any man to have attempted the dethronement of David, 
who had now grown gray in the service of his country, and be- 
neath whose wise and benign administration its people had been 
happy, and all its interests had prospered, and by whose martial 



VIL] Absalom's death. 117 

prowess and victorious sword the territory of the kingdom had 
spread from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, — for any man 
to have unfurled the standard of revolt against such a monarch, 
would have been a most wanton outrage, and an enormous crime. 
But for Absalom to do it, made the crime unspeakably greater. 
It was a contemptuous violation of the honour and duty which 
belonged to the best of fathers, as well as the best of kings. 

Against the father whose bone and flesh he was, of whose en- 
dearment and fond hopes he had been the object, and from whom 
he had received for previous faults a free and cordial forgiveness, 
he devised a plot, and set in operation a revolt which endangered 
not only his throne and his honour, but his very life, and was in 
every way calculated to £ ' bring down his gray hairs with sorrow 
to the grave. ' ' • 

In heart and purpose he was a parricide, guilty of the foulest 
murder and the most unnatural of crimes. The climax of his 
guilt was reached when he gave ready and delighted assent to 
the counsel of Ahithophel, which contemplated not the slaughter 
of the people, but only the assassination of the king. " I," said 
this wily warrior, c ' will come upon him when he is weary and 
weak-handed, and will make him afraid, and all the people that 
are with him shall flee, and I will smite the king only." That 
Ahithophel ventured to make the suggestion, shows that he 
knew his man. ' £ The saying pleased Absalom well. ' ' There 
is no intimation that the atrocity of the act gave him one mo- 
ment's "pause," or occasioned even a twinge of conscience. If 
the object of his unhallowed ambition could have been reached 
without this horrible deed, no doubt he would have chosen to 
avoid it ; only the malignity of a fiend could have found pleasure 
in it for its own sake. That he did not shrink from it, proves 
the remorseless cruelty of "vaulting ambition," and shows with 



118 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

what perfect ease and reckless determination it pursues its aim, 
trampling on all obligations, and plunging into the most unna- 
tural and diabolical crimes. 

Few chapters in the annals of the world are so black with in- 
famy and guilt as those that record the conspiracies, cruelties, 
and murders which ambition has resorted to for the purpose of 
displacing those who stood in its way, and of mounting thus to 
thrones of power. It has made men ■ ■ murderers of fathers,' 
and of brothers, and of innocent children ; and it has transformed 
the tender heart of woman into marble hardness. And at this 
hour, it has as much to do, perhaps, as anything else, among 
'the immediate causes of our national troubles, in shaking the 
foundations of our government, and filling the land with distress 
and bloodshed. It is a crisae of gigantic magnitude, and in its 
outworking cruel and relentless as the very spirit of the pit. 

II. Having thus traced the character and crime of Absalom 
at their point of fullest development, a natural curiosity prompts 
us to inquire whether there is anything in the early history of 
this man which goes to explain the obliquity of his riper years — 
anything which marks a gradual departure from the ways of 
piety and uprightness, and which may be turned by ourselves to 
practical account. 

His mother's name was Maachah, the daughter of Talmai, 
king of Geshur, a heathenish town of Syria. It is not to be 
supposed that she practised idolatry ; as the wife of David, she 
doubtless became a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and was at 
least an outward and apparent worshipper of Jehovah : never- 
theless, it would not probably trench on charity or the probabili- 
ties of historical truth, to suppose that she may not have been a 
very suitable person to train her son to the practices of virtue 
and religion. But, as often happens in fact, it might be sug- 



VII. ] ABSALOM'S DEATH. 119 

gested that the lack of service on the part of one parent was 
supplied by the fidelity of the other. We know that a father's 
dereliction in parental duty is not seldom counteracted, and in a 
good degree overcome by the spiritual wisdom, deep devotion, 
and holy life of a Christian mother : and, on the other hand, 
there are not wanting examples in which children who are de- 
nied her plastic powers to mould their characters, are well and 
successfully trained by a father's example and authority. What- 
ever may have been the character of Maachah, we know that 
David was a man of exemplary piety, and one that felt a pro- 
found and tender interest in the spiritual and eternal welfare of 
his children. After he had brought up the ark to Jerusalem 
with public ceremonies and rejoicings, we are told that he " re- 
turned to bless his household. ' ' His duty as king was immedi- 
ately followed by that of a father — the priest of his family. The 
pious charge he gave to Solomon at his inauguration, discloses 
the same trait of character. The burden of it was, that he 
served God while he ruled the people : ' ' Thou, Solomon, my 
son, know thou the God of thy fathers. If thou seek him, he 
will be found of thee ; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee 
off for ever. ' ' From these and like indications we might seem 
precluded from the attempt to trace any sort of connexion be- 
tween the misconduct of Absalom, and the shortcomings of 
David in his parental relations. 

And it must be admitted that there is nothing expressed in 
the history which proves any delinquency in respect of this par- 
ticular child. Two or three circumstances, however, suggest 
the surmise that Absalom may have been a spoiled child, in 
whom the germs of tyranny and rebellion were planted at an 
early age by parental neglect and indulgence. It would seem 
that he was a darling child to his father, standing to David 



120 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

somewhat in the same relation as Joseph to the doting heart of 
Jacob. This might be gathered from the manner in which he 
yearned over him while in banishment* — from the charge given 
to the chiefs of his army as they went forth to quench so unna- 
tural a rebellion — "Deal gently, for my sake, with the young 
man, even with Absalom ; ' ' and more especially from the irre- 
pressible and overpowering grief occasioned by his death. Pa- 
rental love is an implantation of the heavenly Father, and is 
like his own : and its truest manifestation and highest use are 
seen in seeking the spiritual and eternal welfare of our offspring ; 
but that blind and foolish fondness which l ' spares the rod' ' 
when it is needed, according to an inspired oracle, is "hatred 
of the child." It may be that the starting point of Absalom's 
course to ruin lies just here. It is not an uncommon fault of 
good men. Faithful in other respects, they are lamentably re- 
miss in this : they neglect the religious training and government 
of their children. Eli the priest was a good man, and ' ' trem- 
bled for the ark of God, ' ' and glowed with patriotic devotion — 
but he did not govern his children. "When his sons made 
themselves vile, he restrained them not, ' ' and they rushed on 
to perdition. 

Another circumstance which heightens the probability that 
the religious discipline and education of Absalom may have been 
in some degree neglected, is the fact that David was greatly oc- 
cupied with affairs of state, and oppressed with business. He 
had the administration of a kingdom on his hands. It is true 
this would neither justify nor necessitate the neglect of his 
family ; but we all know the absorbing nature even of our own 
out-door and public engagements, and how strong is the tempta- 

* 2 Sam. xiii. 39. 



VTL] ABSALOM'S DEATH. 121 

tion they offer to omit home duties. The king of Israel may 
have felt, and, to some extent, yielded to a like, but immensely 
greater pressure. If he did, he committed a great mistake — he 
neglected a primary duty — and so laid the foundation not only 
for the most pungent parental sorrows, but for the subversion 
of his kingdom. Nothing whatever, come in what guise it may, 
whether of public and professional duty, or of urgent business, 
by which our children are clothed and fed, can justify the ne- 
glect of their religious education and constant training in the 
ways of the Lord. 

A third circumstance, tending even more strongly to confirm 
the suspicion that lack of early restraint had nurtured the spirit 
of filial insubordination in Absalom, and made him at last a 
traitor, a rebel, and a parricide, is the recorded fact that in re- 
ference to another of his sons, David did pursue a course of uni- 
form and weak indulgence, and with substantially the same re- 
sults as were produced in this case. After the rebellion of Ab- 
salom had been suppressed, and David was old and bed-ridden, 
Adonijah, a younger son, " exalted himself, saying, I will be 
king ; and he prepared him chariots, and horsemen, and fifty 
men to run before him. ' ' After this announcement, it is added, 
in significant proximity — " And his father had not displeased him 
at any time, in saying, Why hast thou done so?" The youth 
had done as he pleased, had gone where he chose, and no doubt 
had practised the petty tyrant over those whose condition was 
inferior, and thus had grown rapidly up to the full stature of a 
rebel, who was not afraid or ashamed to imbitter the last hours 
of his too indulgent father. If a similar course was pursued 
with Absalom, his precocious wickedness and filial impiety are 
sufficiently explained. U A child left to himself bringeth his 

mother to shame," and his father to grief: so natural and strong 
11 



122 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

is tlie bent of an evil nature — so great the power of temptation — 
so fundamentally requisite is the wise, firm, and loving control 
of parental government. While we thus collect from the biog- 
raphy of this unhappy and erring youth a lesson of instruction 
and warning for parents, and a powerful stimulus to the per- 
formance of a great duty, we may learn something as to the dan- 
ger of temptation, and the progress of sin. The last and fatal 
crime which cost Absalom his life, was not, by any means, his 
first lapse from virtue. He did not fall, nor does any man fall, 
at once from innocence and uprightness into the depths of in- 
famy and guilt. His rebellion, with all its aggravations, was 
not the sudden outbreak of the native depravity which is com- 
mon to all men, but rather the result and full-blown develop- 
ment of an advancing degeneracy which had been going forward 
for many years, and which had, on certain occasions, revealed 
itself in outward and palpable forms. The bloody vengeance he 
took on his brother Amnon, for the crime he had committed 
against Tamar, the sister of Absalom, may be, in some degree, 
extenuated by the provocation which moved him to it ; yet the 
fact, and especially the manner of the deed, shows him to have 
been a man of vindictive spirit. He cherished the grudge for 
two whole years, and then carried his wrathful purpose into 
effect on a festive occasion at which his brother was present by 
his own invitation. This occasioned his flight to Syria, where 
he remained in exile for the space of three years : but the pun- 
ishment does not appear to have wrought any improvement in 
his character, and the whole affair left him in a more hardened 
condition than ever. 

We have already adverted to the connexion between ambition 
and cruelty : may not a like relationship be traced between this 
latter quality and personal vanity and pride? A man who is 



VII.] ABSALOM'S DEATH. 123 

filled with self-conceit and puffed up with vain-glory, whatever 
its particular basis may be, will commonly be found regardless, 
in an equal degree, of the rights, the interests, and the feelings 
of others. Self so completely fills the sphere of his vision, that 
he scarcely discerns the existence of anybody or anything else, 
and is a cruel Moloch, to which every thing that comes in its 
way must be sacrificed. If we ascribe a character like this to 
Absalom, we do not go beyond the record. Beauty is generally 
deemed the snare, as it is the common endowment of the gentler 
sex. Doubtless many are too conscious of the possession, and 
from the fairness of the face, receive a blemish on the soul. The 
weakness and folly of their vanity, while quite without excuse, 
and far from being either innocent or harmless, are probably 
less so than when the same qualities are found in men, and are 
based upon personal attractions. The moral sense of the world, 
in reference to members of the sterner sex who pride themselves 
on the possession of personal beauty, is signified by calling them 
effeminate (or like women. ) This, without doubt, was a snare 
to Absalom. He was famed throughout the nation for his come- 
liness. His hair was observed with admiration, and was proba- 
bly ' ' cultivated' ' with an assiduity not surpassed by any of the 
moderns. " In all Israel there was none to be so much praised 
as Absalom for his beauty : from the sole of his foot, even to 
the crown of his head, there was no blemish in him : and when 
he polled his head, (for it was at every year's end that he polled 
it; because the hair was heavy upon him, therefore he polled), 
he weighed the hair of his head at two hundred shekels, after 
the king' s weight. ' ' 

The admiring eyes that were turned upon him, and the in- 
cense of universal laudation which greeted his ears, flattered his 
vanity and nurtured his pride, till he became a very god in his 



124 truth in love. [Ser. 

own eyes ; and when he reached that point, all generous and 
noble sentiments were paralyzed, and he was an easy prey to 
whatever temptation most powerfully addressed the ruling pas- 
sion of his nature. The great crime which finally revealed his 
character and destroyed his soul, sustained a close relation to the 
vanity and selfishness which had long been growing up in his 
heart. As a tree stands erect, after its heart has been consumed 
by a slow decay, until the sweeping tempest lays it low, so he 
maintained his position till the course of events presented a 
temptation which found no principle or power within him to re- 
sist it, and he fell to rise no more. 

This lesson of his life and history is, that a thoroughly de- 
praved character is the result of a gradual process of moral de- 
terioration — that a fatal issue of one's career is reached not at 
a single bound, but by many steps — and that c ' out of the heart 
are the issues of life." And the practical duty is, "Keep thy 
heart with all diligence. ' ' 

The review of his whole character and life, connected with his 
melancholy and tragical death, leaves a profound impression of 
the evil and folly of sinful courses, and is a solemn comment on 
those Scriptures which assure us that the u way of trans- 
gressors is hard," and the u end of it death." His career is a 
warning to young and old, to parents and children, and espe- 
cially to young men, who are so often ruined in body and soul, 
in time and eternity, by the indulgence of their passions and 
appetites. To those who are tempted to give themselves up to 
the promptings of ambition, the dishonoured grave of Absalom, 
and the great heap of stones thrown rudely upon his body, 
preach a sermon of touching eloquence. Such is the end and 
monument of those who would climb to thrones and chairs of 
state over violated constitutions and ruined nations. u Pride 



VII. 1 Absalom's death. 125 

goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." 
1 ' He that exalteth himself shall be abased. ' ' 

It had been our purpose to inquire what relation the crime 
and calamity of Absalom sustained to the one great fault and 
error of his father's life — David's sin in the matter of Uriah the 
Hittite — but this we must pass over with a bare reference to the 
circumstances. Sinning against the family of another, he was 
sorely punished in his own. Because he killed Uriah with the 
sword of the children of Ammon, it was said to him, "The 
sword shall not depart from thy house. ' ' Thenceforward, to his 
dying day, domestic sorrows oppressed him ; and many a dirge- 
like Psalm was made the vehicle of his bitter griefs. Grod remit- 
ted the penalty of damnation, but chastised him with temporal 
judgments : so strict and holy is he in dealing even with his 
saints. It is a principle of his government to punish the sins 
of parents in their children, ' c visiting the iniquity of the fathers 
upon the children unto the third and fourth generation." 

The Lord smote the unconscious babe of Bathsheba with a 
mortal sickness for its father's sin. The real blow and judgment 
fell not on it, but on him. It was well with the child, and ill 
with the father. This only seems severe : it is beneficent and 
kind. It calls in, as a help and stimulus to piety and well-doing, 
the parental instinct — one of the strongest in our nature. If 
you sin, your children will suffer. 

The grief of this poor afflicted father is one of the most af- 
fecting spectacles which any history, sacred or profane, records. 
Waiting with trembling heart for tidings of the battle, the sad 
fate of Absalom is at length reported. The slain youth was his 
deadliest foe, but then he was his son ! and the king is com- 
pletely merged and lost in the father, His heart breaks, and 

his piteous lamentations melt all beholders to tears ; and at this 
11* 



126 truth in love. [Ser. 

distance we weep with him. Many like him have cried — "0 
my son Absalom ! my son, my son Absalom ! would God I had 
died for thee, Absalom, my son, my son!" 

May God avert, or long postpone, from you and me this 
piercing grief! 



VIII.] THE FINISHED WORK. 127 



SERMON VIII. 

THE FINISHED WORK. 

John xix. 30. — When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, 
he said, It is finished: (TeriXearat). And he bowed his head, 
and gave up the ghost 

It looked as if not his work, but his cause, were finished! 
The superscription fastened on his cross, in derisive m<5ckery of 
his pretensions, proclaiming, in letters of Hebrew, and Greek, 
and Latin, to all beholders, " This is the king of the Jews," 
might have been deemed an epitaph, rather than a prophecy, 
and brought to mind the fatal hand- writing on Relshazzar's 
palace— "God hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it." 
Never, in all the history of the world, did the thoughts of God 
move in a plane farther above the thoughts of men and the 
subtlety of devils. At the moment the dying Saviour uttered 
these words, the plans of both were hasting to their maturity ; 
theirs apparently, his really. 

What wicked men did, under the instigation of Satan, to sup- 
press the voice of truth, and to get rid of One who had disturbed 
their guilty repose, and set the terrors of the Lord in array 
against them, subserved, in a manner, the most direct, the mer- 



128 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

ciful and holy designs of Grod. The murderous purpose, which 
for months had been waiting its opportunity, was now blindly 
fulfilling an older purpose of Heaven, and, in its infatuation, 
sapping the foundations of that unholy power which it thought 
to establish. How far Divine Wisdom exceeds human craft 
and hellish cunning, was never proved with such overwhelming 
demonstration as when Jesus, " delivered by the determinate 
counsel and foreknowledge of Grod," was takSn, and, by the 
" wicked hands" of men, was "crucified and slain. " No provi- 
dential mystery which has ever cast its shadow on the church, 
has been so dark as that at which hell rejoiced, and the hearts 
of disciples were filled with anguish and despair, but out of 
which Grod has brought forth light, and hope, and joy, and sal- 
vation. If the c ' wrath of man, ' ' when vented against the Re- 
deemer himself, and not restrained until it had accomplished 
his death, was made to praise God and bless the world, much 
more may we expect its feebler manifestations against the truth 
and the church to fail of their aim, and to redound to the greater 
furtherance of the faith which they seek to destroy. 

But our design is not to interpret these dying words of Jesus 
in the sense of those who may have heard them, or in the light 
of the sad and gloomy appearances of that hour, but rather 
from the point of view — so far as it is possible for us to gain it 
— of him by whom they were spoken : and to gather and bring 
to bear on our hearts the lessons which they most obviously sug- 
gest. They have a peculiar interest and tenderness, from being 
one of the utterances which fell from his lips on the cross ; and 
one of the last of these, — if we had no record but that of John, 
— the very last. 

These expressions are a study of unspeakable interest. They 
were his dying words. His bodily pain was excruciating : his 



VIII.] THE FINISHED WORK. 129 

mental anguish was awful and mysterious : yet lie was singularly 
self-possessed, and, until the moment when he bowed his head 
and gave up the ghost, observant of the scenes about him, and 
intent upon the object of his wondrous mission. He spoke re- 
peatedly. We treasure the words of the dying, because we de- 
sire to know what is passing in the mind at this solemn and 
heart-searching hour. If the words of Christ in death are not 
possessed of more inherent weight than those he spoke in life, 
the circumstance of their being uttered when the waves of the 
dark river were surging about him, and the burden of a world's 
guilt was crushing his soul, must greatly enhance their impres- 
sion, and we listen to them with tearful and sacred interest. It 
would seem that after he had been nailed to the cross, and then 
with rude violence it had been dropped into the earth, the first 
utterance was that heart-melting prayer for his murderers, 
1 ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. ' ' Then, 
inclining his ear to one who prayed to him for salvation, he said, 
" Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with me in Pa- 
radise." Seeing her standing by in whom old Simeon's pro- 
phecy was receiving its bitter fulfilment, that u a sword should 
pierce through her soul ; ' ' — the disciple whom he loved being 
also near — he cried — " Woman, behold thy son," and then call- 
ing the disciple by his name, said,— " Behold, thy mother." 
And, as the sorrows of his soul deepened, and a horror of great 
darkness fell upon him, he first exclaimed, — "My God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me," then, with calm self-recollection, 
declared, " It is finished, ' ' and at last, with a confidence in God, 
which even that mysterious shadow that hid his face could not 
impair, devoutly said, — "Father, into thy hands I commit my 
spirit," and then,— to show how literally exact were the words 
he spake when he said, "No man taketh my life from me, 



130 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

but I lay it down of myself," — lie bowed his bead and gave up 
tbe ghost ; asserting even in death that he was the Lord of 
life. 

From these half-dozen dying expressions of our gracious Re- 
deemer, we select the shortest, but, in a doctrinal point of view, 
perhaps, the most significant: — u It is finished." The word 
bears the sense of completeness. A house is finished, not when 
its foundations are laid and the walls reared, but when it has 
received the last touch of the mechanic's tool, and nothing re- 
mains to be done before it is fit for occupancy. In this sense, 
the work was done to which our Lord referred, when he used 
the language of the text. The force of the term, and the facts of 
the case, necessitate a restricted application. 

It cannot include anything which, as Mediator, Christ after- 
wards did, and is doing now, and shall do, until the economy of 
grace is closed, and the kingdom shall be delivered up to the 
Father ; except it be in the modified sense that, as his death in- 
volved all this, he might be said to have virtually accomplished 
it. His work as a Saviour, however, will not be finished until 
the last of his redeemed ones shall have been called and santi- 
fied, and the whole church, with glorious bodies and sanctified 
spirits, ' ' without "spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, ' ' shall 
be presented to God, " with exceeding joy." 

His work as a Priest will not be finished as long as there is a 
sinful worshipper on earth to need his intercession ; and he will 
sit on the throne of his kingly mediation, till the • c last enemy ' ' 
shall be trodden under his feet, and a risen church shall shout, 
" death, where is thy sting? grave, where is thy victory?" 
u Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the 
kingdom to God, even the Father ; when he shall have put down 
all rule, and all authority, and power." Redemption in its ap- 



VIII] THE FINISHED WORK. 131 

plication to the souls of men runs through all the ages of human 
history, and will not be ' ■ finished ' ' till it is proclaimed from 
heaven that ' * time shall be no longer. ' ' 

The nature of the case thus leads us to fix upon some particu- 
lar aspect of Christ's work which was finished at the moment he 
expired on the cross. Though the ground of our inquiry is nar- 
rowed, the interest of the theme is not diminished. Our view 
is confined to what is" the very heart and centre of redemption. 
The words before us are true in a manifold sense. We do not 
impose it upon them from our own choice and fancy, but collect 
it from Scripture. 

1. The immediate connexion of the passage leads us to view 
it first of all, in its relation to the prophecies which were fulfilled 
in the death of Christ. Upon no fact of his history, and upon 
no part of his work, do so many types and predictions converge 
as upon his death. It was prefigured by every sacrificial vic- 
tim that bled from the beginning, and was the burden of many 
a psalm and prophecy which not only foretold the fact, but mi- 
nutely detailed its circumstances. The paschal lamb, fastened 
on transverse pieces of wood, and roasted whole, without the 
breaking of a bone, was an annual and standing type both of the 
fact and manner of his death. When the soldiers came and 
found that he was dead already, they brake not his legs, and 
thus unconsciously fulfilled the Scripture, which said, "A bone 
of him shall not be broken. ' ' 

When, according to the custom, his executioners sat down to 
divide his clothes among them, and declined to rend his seam- 
less coat, but cast lots whose it should be, an ancient oracle they 
wot not of was verified : ' J They parted my garments among them, 
and upon my vesture did they cast lots. ' ' In the clustering sor- 
rows and indignities which were crowded into his last hours, 



132 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Set. 

predictions that were made ages before, received in quick suc- 
cession, and with amazing precision, their exact accomplishment. 
At length, one only remained without its verifying sorrow. 
"The things concerning me," said Jesus, " have an end," and 
this must be fulfilled, even though he himself make the occasion. 
" Knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the 
Scriptures might be fulfilled, he saith, ' I thirst.' " 

That was no fiction, but an awful fact ; the burning, anguished 
thirst of one dying slowly by torture. At the commencement 
of the execution, he had been offered " vinegar mingled with 
myrrh," — a beverage provided for criminals doomed to capital 
punishment, and designed to deaden their sensibilities. He re- 
fused it ! The cup which his Father gave him, should he not 
drink it? Every nerve must writhe in pain, and every inner 
sense of the soul suffer up to its full capacity : but now, when 
this has been endured, he tastes the draught, and bows his head 
in death, and that other prediction passed into historic verity, 
which said, — " They gave me also gall for my meat ; and in my 
thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink." If any inquire, Why 
this concern for the fulfilment of Scripture? the answer is, not only 
that the truth of God might be established, but that the evi- 
dence of his Messiahship might be placed beyond all doubt, 
and a sure foundation be laid for the faith and hope of a perish- 
ing world. In the matter of our eternal salvation, we cannot 
afford to be left in doubt, and God does not require us to believe 
in his Son without evidence. "Him hath God the Father 
sealed," by miracles wrought, and prophecies fulfilled, and 
voices spoken from the heavens, saying, - ' This is my beloved 
Son; hear him." "Believe on him, and you shall live for 
ever. ' ' 

2. In the second place, we may connect these dying words of 



VIII. ] THE FINISHED WORK. 133 

the Saviour, with the ceremonial law and typical worship of the 
Old Testament, which foreshadowed his divine and glorious * 
priesthood. 

For four thousand years the blood of lambs, and goats, and 
bullocks, had been streaming from Jewish and Patriarchal al- 
tars : and priests of families and tribes, and of the united Israel 
of God, had performed this sacred but ineffectual function. 
Acceptable they were, because of Divine appointment ; but their 
use was to foreshow and teach men to trust in the only real and 
availing priesthood which God has ever instituted, even that of 
the Lord Jesus Christ, begun in the outer court below, and car- 
ried on in the holy of holies above. The priest, the altar, the 
victim, the sprinkling of blood, the burning of incense, and ail 
else that entered into the complex and orderly detail of the Jew- 
ish temple service, pointed to answering facts and realities in 
the person and offices of Jesus. All these, as the Apostle says, 
were "A shadow of good things to come," but "the body," 
(that cast the shadow) is Christ. And as their only use was to 
herald his coming, and meanwhile enable sinful souls to hope 
for and rely upon a redemption yet future, they ceased, as a 
matter of course, when Jesus appeared and performed the 
priestly offices which they had so long represented. 

In so far as those ceremonial institutions were a system of 
laws, they expired by virtue of a limitation contained in them- 
selves, being only "imposed until the time of reformation." 
Regarded in the light of types, they were displaced by the sub- 
stance, in the room of which they had stood. As means of 
grace, they were no longer required nor useful, when "grace 
and truth" itself came by Jesus Christ. "Think not," said he, 
' ' that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not 

come to destroy, but to fulfil." 
12 



134 truth in love. [Ser. 

Every good thing of which the ritual of the Jewish worship 
* gave pre-intimation, was realized in his coming, and in token 
that these typical institutions had accomplished their purpose, 
and were done away ; an invisible hand rent the vail of the tem- 
ple in sunder from top to bottom, in the moment that Jesus said 
— "It is finished," and resigned his spirit to the Father. 
Thus was the neck of his disciples freed for ever from the yoke 
of " carnal ordinances," useful once, but now injurious to those 
who have passed from the discipline of childhood, to the liberty 
of the sons of G-od. 

This l c hand-writing of ordinances which was against us, and 
was contrary to us, he hath taken out of the way," and, in the 
manner of a cancelled obligation, "nailed it to his cross." 

The ceremonial law died with Jesus, and with respect to it, he 
might say — " It is finished." 

3. A third and obvious application of these words, is that 
which refers them to the sufferings of the Saviour. He had 
now filled up the appointed measure of his sorrows. The last 
drop of bitterness had been drained from the cup which the 
Father had put into his hands : and we read here both a lesson 
of sadness and of joy— of sadness, that he suffered so much; of 
joy, that he should suffer no more. The humiliation of the Son 
of God — may we not say it reverently?— is the strangest chapter 
in the history of divinity. " The man Christ Jesus" was a suf- 
ferer — yea, the very prince of sufferers. His whole earthly ma- 
nifestation was one of sorrow, deepening from the beginning to 
the end. Never were there so many, or so varied, or such pe- 
culiar sorrows allotted to any member of the human family. He 
was a man of sorrows, "acquainted with grief." "His visage 
was so marred more than any man ; and his form more than the 
sons of men. ' ? It was an infinite humiliation to veil his Godhead 



VIII. ] TPIE FINISHED WORK. 135 

in our weak flesh, and take the nature of man into personal 
union with the nature of God. And this he did, and from 
choice, in circumstances of peculiar lowliness. He was l ' born, 
and that in a low condition," the child of an obscure virgin, 
beholding, at first, the light of day, not in the abodes of men, 
but in the habitation of brutes ! In his infancy, persecuted with 
murderous intent ; in his youth, l ' meekly subject to his parents ; ' ' 
in his manhood, following the humble and laborious trade of a 
carpenter ; and during his public ministry of three years, greeted 
with contempt, cavils, and sneers, by nearly all who gave tone 
and direction to public opinion. Reviled of men and tempted 
of the devil, he keenly felt the sting of these trials, and none the 
less because he was also God. But great as were the sorrows 
of his life, they were not to be compared with those of his death. 

Then he suffered in every conceivable way, and from every 
possible quarter ; in his body, in his soul ; from friends, from 
enemies; from man, from devils, from God! Behold him a 
prostrate suppliant in the garden, ' ' with strong crying and tears, 
addressing his prayer unto Him that was able to save him from 
death, and gauge the depth of his anguish by the pleading im- 
portunity with which he cries, by the nature of the petition he 
urges, by the agony and bloody sweat into which he has fallen!" 
" Exceeding sorrowful, even unto death," was Jesus in that 
hour, the point, perhaps, of deepest depression, when his human 
nature shuddered and shrank back from that mysterious suffer- 
ing which atones for human guilt! An angel appears from 
heaven, strengthing his fainting humanity, and he is prepared 
for the ordeal of the cross. 

Hanging there in agonies unutterable, the moments pass slug- 
gishly by, and his life's blood trickles from his hands and his 
feet. The reproach of sinners hath broken his heart, and when 



136 truth in love. [Ser. 

the load of man's iniquity which he bore projects its dark shadow 
to heaven, and covers with total eclipse the light of that face 
which had never before been clouded, that sinking of soul came 
over him which none know but those whom God forsakes. The 
cup of his sorrow is now exhausted, the last pang is endured, 
and it only remains for him to say "It is finished, " and yield 
his freed spirit unto God. 

While this touching declaration thus points to the fact and 
the greatness of his sufferings, it gives the sweet assurance that 
they were then ended for ever. They were finished, both in the 
sense of being completed and terminated. Though his death-bed 
was a cross, he fell sweetly asleep, and in Joseph's new tomb 
enjoyed untroubled repose. At the time appointed, he awoke 
and came forth with the freshness of a new-born immortality, 
joyful and triumphant. Thenceforward, his body never felt a 
pain, nor his heart a grief. Raised from the dead, he dieth no 
more, and weeps no more. The night of his humiliation is over, 
and the morning of his glory has dawned. Into " the joy set 
before him, for which he endured the cross, despising the 
shame," he has entered, and through eternal ages he will never 
shed a tear or know a sorrow. And what has already happened 
to the Captain of our salvation, is that which awaits ourselves. 
The moment of our last sorrow hastens on, and God, from his 
throne, will say, concerning us, "It is done," and we shall go 
to the blissful land where "there shall be no more death, neither 
sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain." 
4. A fourth application of these dying words of our Divine Lord, 
and the most vital of all, is that which refers them to the com- 
pleted atonement for the sins of men, which was made when he 
died on the cross. 
The humiliation of his life, and the sorrows of his death, were 



VIII] THE FINISHED WORK. 137 

the satisfaction which the law and justice of God required of 
those whose sins he bore in his own body on the tree. Deep as 
is the criminality of sin, countless as were the transgressions of 
a guilty world, aggravated as were the offences of many, and in- 
finite as was God's abhorrence of evil, the precious blood of 
Christ was absolutely all that was needed or demanded to atone 
for sin. 

When he died, justice did not ask, and could not accept any- 
thing more. When the last drop of his blood was shed, and his* 
dear life went out a sacrifice to God, the atonement was made, 
completely made — incapable for ever of being impaired by lapse 
of time or sin of men, or of being supplemented by human works. 
In the most absolute sense of the words, it was "finished," and 
henceforth it belongs to men, not to repeat it, as the Romanists 
pretend to do in the sacrifice of the Mass, nor to add to it 
by uncommanded and vain austerities, but by humble faith to 
embrace it, and with grateful joy to commemorate it in the Sa- 
crament of the Supper, till Jesus shall come the second time, 
without sin unto salvation. In common phrase, we sometimes 
speak of doing a thing " once for all," meaning thereby, that we 
do it effectually, and remove all occasion for ever doing it over 
again. In this sense precisely, it is said by the Apostle, "We 
are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ, once 
for all. ' ' The Jewish sacrifices, because they possessed no in- 
herent eflicacy to atone, and only typified the coming expiation, 
were repeated day by day, and from age to age. 

1 ' But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins, for 
ever sat down on the right hand of God, — for by one offering, 
he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." So cer- 
tainly as the death of Christ is an accomplished fact, the atone- 
ment is a completed work. In the moment his life was extinct, 
12* 



138 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

the penal demands of God's broken law were satisfied, "all 
righteousness was fulfilled/' and no impediment remained in the 
way of that impatient mercy which made for itself a channel 
through the mangled flesh and pierced heart of God's dear Son. 
In that hour, the evangelic prediction of Daniel passed into 
actual history. c c Messiah was cut off, not for himself, ' ' but 
c ' to finish transgression, to make an end of sins, to make recon- 
ciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness. ' ' 
The gospel, therefore, which we preach to you this day, is not 
that an atonement for sin is promised. That were to remand 
you back to the twilight and shadowy grace of a by-gone dis- 
pensation. Nor that a partial and incomplete sacrifice for sin 
has been made by the sufferings of Jesus, and needs to be filled 
out by works of righteousness and tears of penitence ; but the 
good news we bring you is, that redemption is finished, and for 
its actual power in your pardon and peace, requires nothing at 
all but naked acceptance. l ' The uttermost farthing ' ' of your 
enormous debt of ten thousand talents has been cancelled by 
one who, "though he was rich, for your sakes became poor." 
It was liquidated in his streaming blood ; the bond has been 
taken up by your " surety," and, if we may compare the mys- 
teries of redemption with the transactions of earth, the gospel 
is God's written discharge from the penal claims of law and jus- 
tice against all believing sinners. " A just God and a Saviour " 
is he : and his covenant name, "Jehovah Tzidkenu, The Lord 
our righteousness." Do ye, my brethren, comprehend well 
this glorious mystery ? Is it dear to your understandings, and 
does it pour divinest consolation into your hearts, that you, who 
are unholy and guilty, and hell- deserving sinners, are freely and 
completely, now and for ever, "accepted in the Beloved ?" justi- 
fied by a righteousness not your own, exactly as if it were your 



VIII.] THE FINISHED WORK. 139 

own, being made over to you by the gracious act of God ? Do 
you know and feel that your standing in his sight depends not 
on your fitful frames, imperfect obedience, and sin-defiled works, 
but on the " obedience unto death" of the Lord Jesus Christ? 

Until you receive this central truth of the gospel into your 
heart of faith and love, "the spirit of bondage again to fear," 
will be ever and anon returning to you, and you will have but 
small experience of the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. 

Believe it then, ye sad and downcast disciples, that the one 
only sacrifice of Calvary, avails for your present and eternal justifi- 
cation ! That for the righteousness' sake of Jesus, God not only 
pardons but accepts you ; not only tolerates you in his dominions, 
and suffers you to live out of hell, but adopts you into his fa- 
mily, loves your person, approves your weak but sincere obedi- 
ence, and destines you to the glories of heaven and a blissful 
immortality ! The atonement was finished the moment Jesus 
died ; and your justification was finished the moment you first 
believed with a true faith and a penitent heart. c ' Believest 
thou this?" Then let your joy be full, and your " songs 
abound," and the peace which passeth all understanding fill your 
hearts ! 

In this faith, come to the memorial supper which sets before 
you the finished sacrifice of Jesus, and while the sight 

" Dissolves your heart in thankfulness, 
And melts your eyes to tears," 

with sweet affiance your soul will embrace and magnify the Lord, 
and along with the profoundest sense of personal unworthiness, 
will blend the sense of your Saviour's merit, and you will sit in 
peace " beneath the droppings of his blood." 

And while this foundation-truth of the Redeemer's completed 
atonement ministers comfort, inspires hope, and lifts a crushing 



140 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

burden from the hearts of Christians, it presents the gospel to 
those who are strangers to its peace and pardon, in an aspect of 
greatest encouragement and most persuasive power. If men 
are thoroughly indifferent on the subject of religion, it will, of 
course, awaken no interest, and be dismissed with less attention 
than more superficial phases of truth, just because it is the in- 
nermost and holiest of gospel doctrines. It is not to be expected 
that unawakened and unconvinced sinners will heed the an- 
nouncement that an all-sufficient atonement has been made and 
finished by Jesus Christ. 

But I do expect and believe that this declaration will be glad 
tidings of great joy to any among you who feel your sins and are 
aware of your danger. I tell you, then, in the name of Him 
who made the sacrifice, that it is finished and complete ; of vir- 
tue, such, that c \ though your sins were as scarlet, they shall be 
white as snow ; and though they were red like crimson, they shall 
be as wool;" and so absolutely universal in its adaptation, suf- 
ficiency, and offer, that ' ' whosoever believeth in him shall not 
perish, but have everlasting life. ' ' 

If you feel that you are guilty, and need pardon — that you are 
a sinner, and need salvation — consider, I pray you, how exactly 
a finished atonement suits your case. If it were incomplete, 
who could "finish" it? Could you? Your works, your tears, 
your prayers, your blood could not be blended with the sacrifice 
of the only-begotten Son of God. They have no atoning virtue, 
and they are not needed. If, therefore, you desire to be saved, 
you may be, and saved now ! The burden of your guilt you need 
not bear for another hour. "Behold the Lamb of GTod" taking 
it away ; and in this, your act of faith, the condemnation of sin 
will be taken from your conscience, and the sense of forgiveness 
will rise in your heart. 



VIII.] THE FINISHED WORK. 141 

It is the spirit of self-righteousness and unbelief which prompts 

you to wait for deeper conviction, more bitter repentance, and a 

certain routine of duties and ordinances before you come directly 

to Jesus for salvation. This is ignorance of the very gospel. 

Not you, but Christ is the Saviour. Trust in him, and live. 

Look to him, and be saved. 

i 

" On the bloody tree behold him, 

Hear him cry, before he dies, 

It is finished ! 

Sinner, will not this suffice ?" 

There are men who, without avowing it as a theory of salva- 
tion, entertain a vague notion of finding acceptance with God, on 
the ground of their good character. In that view, what becomes 
of the finished redemption of the Lord Jesus? If courtesy, and 
decency, and morality, and philanthropy, and ritual worship, are 
an adequate righteousness for the justification of men, and they 
can do all these things "without Christ," — as it is plain they 
can, — then why did he die at all? Their Christianity, if they 
call it such, leaves out the cross. God's judgment and theirs, 
as to the way a sinner may be saved, are wide as the poles apart. 
He holds up a crucified Redeemer; they hold up what they 
complacently term good works. They think these works a beau- 
tiful robe; God accounts them "filthy rags." They go about 
to establish their own righteousness : the word of faith pro- 
claims " Christ the end of the law for righteousness to every one 
that believeth. ' ' We read of some imperfect and erring Chris- 
tians who build upon the true foundation, but because they 
build with "wood, hay, and stubble," are "saved as by fire," 
narrowly escaping the damnation of hell, but there is no revela- 
tion that those who build the house of their hopes on such ma- 



142 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

terials will meet with anything else than bitter and eternal dis- 
appointment. 

And then, finally there is a class of persons (and we grieve to 
say it is a large one) who are profoundly indifferent to the sub- 
ject of their personal salvation, many of them made so by a con- 
ception of the Divine mercy, at once unscriptural and fatal to the 
soul that entertains it. They are at ease, and imagine that God 
is too merciful to reckon severely with them for their short-com- 
ings and imperfections, as they softly name sins. The light that 
shines from the Saviour's finished redemption, dissipates this 
refuge of darkness and of lies. If, in all the actual or possible 
emergencies of the Divine government, there ever was an in- 
stance or an hour when justice would relax its rigours and remit 
its claims, it was when the dear Son of God was called upon to 
pay the forfeit of human guilt. But was it so? Was he spared 
one pang at the pleading of mercy? Did the Father's infinite 
love take from the poisoned chalice that was put to the lips of 
Jesus one of its bitter ingredients, or say, "It is enough," be- 
fore he had received its last drop? In a sense, the Father him- 
self—like the typical father of old, who bound his son — was the 
executioner. He bade it proceed, saying — "Awake, sword, 
against my Shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow : 
smite the Shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered. ' ' In the ■■ 
light of such an example, what becomes of the hope loosely 
based on your own notion of his mercy? " If these things have 
been done in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?" 
"Tf God spared not his Son, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, 
separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens," how 
shall he spare you, whose heart is a stranger to his love, and 
whose life is in open revolt and rebellion against his govern- 
ment? You are guilty ; he offers you pardon through his Son. 



VIII.] THE FINISHED WORK. 143 

If you refuse this, ' ' there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 
but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indigna- 
tion, which shall devour the adversaries." " As though God, 
therefore, did beseech you by us ; we pray you in Christ's stead, 
be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for 
us, who knew no sin ; that we might be made the righteousness 
of God in him. ' ' 



144 truth in love. [Ser. 



SEEMON IX. 
HOPING AND WAITING. 

Lam. iii. 26. — It is good that a man should both hope and quietly 
wait for the salvation of the Lord. 

This book of Lamentations is a kind of supplement to the 
Prophecies of Jeremiah. It describes as realities the sorrows 
which had been before predicted ; seeks to awaken repentance 
for the sins which had occasioned them, and encourages the 
suffering people of God, to hope in his mercy, and wait for his 
salvation. The situation of the captive Israelites is substan- 
tially reproduced in the experience of believers, and in the his- 
tory of the church : and there being a book of Lamentations in 
Scripture, accords with the truth of our condition : and there is 
comfort in the fact, that the anguish we suffer, and the trials we 
endure, have such a recognition in the pages of inspiration. It 
gives assurance that God ' l knows our sorrows, ' ' and provides 
the needed succour and relief. The lamentations which grief 
extorts from our hearts, and with which it fills our habitations, 
find in the heart of Jesus a sympathetic response, and in the 
revelations of the Bible, all that is needed for comfort and in- 
struction. When the children of Zion breathe their woes in 
threnodies and tears, the tender compassions of their Lord are 
deeply moved, and the strong consolations of his grace are im- 



IX. ] HOPING AND WAITING. 145 

parted. Their condition is one of " distress, " but not of ''de- 
spair." What they suffer is discipline, not destruction, and the 
duty and privilege of their situation are those which the text 
presents. 

I. In developing the lesson of the passage, and applying it 
for edification and comfort, it falls first in our way to notice the 
object proposed to our hope and quiet waiting. ' c The salva- 
tion of the Lord." 

In its widest significance, salvation includes every form of Di- 
vine deliverance of which men are the subjects or the objects. 
Properly, it is the soul's deliverance from the power and curse 
of sin. It is justification by the blood, and inward redemption 
by the grace of Jesus Christ. In this sense, believers are al- 
ready saved. Their sentence of condemnation is reversed, and 
the dominion of sin is broken. Accepted and made new crea- 
tures in Christ Jesus, believers are now in a state of salvation, 
and in so far as it is a present possession, it cannot be an object 
of hope; for, "what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?" 
But while this is true and very comfortable, it is equally true, 
and revealed in Scripture with equal clearness, that salvation 
though begun is not complete, but is gradually progressive to- 
wards a glorious consummation which will not be reached till 
the earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, and the soul is 
clothed with its house which is from heaven. Nay, — the Scrip- 
tures carry us forward to the end of all things, and teach us not 
to expect the perfection of our being and the fulness of joy, till 
Christ shall come the second time without sin unto the salvation 
of the body : and, accordingly, his appearing in glory, coming in 
the clouds of heaven and with his mighty angels, is held up as 
the grand and final object of Christian hope. Believers are ex- 
horted to "gird up the loins of their mind, and wait for the 
13 



146 truth in love. [Ser. 

grace which is to be brought unto them," — (not at death) — but 
" at the revelation, (anoicaXvipu) of Jesus Christ. While in this 
world, they are " kept by the power of God, through faith unto 
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time." The date of 
this ' c last time ' ' is fixed by the apostle Paul, who links with it, 
the resurrection of the body, and makes that the full harvest of 
salvation, compared with which all that is enjoyed on earth is 
no more than first fruits. ' c We ourselves, who have the first 
fruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adop- 
tion, to wit, the redemption of our body. ' ' It thus appears that 
in the proper sense of salvation, it is a future good, and so an 
object of hope : and we shall not do any violence to the text, if 
we find, in this connexion, one of its applications. It is good 
that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation 
which the Lord shall give him in the end of his earthly pilgrim- 
age when his soul is taken to Christ in Paradise ; and in the end 
of time, when his body is rescued from the dishonour of the 
tomb, and made glorious like that of his Divine Redeemer. It 
is possible there may not be the same necessity for patient hope 
and quiet waiting in this case as in reference to another sense 
of salvation which we have yet to notice. Still we judge it is not 
useless to any Christian, while it is of the utmost importance to 
some. 

There is no danger that any will hunger and thirst for perfect 
holiness with excessive longings, or too eagerly desire the beatific 
vision of Jesus Christ ; but it is possible, and there is very great 
danger that even the best of men may grow impatient of the 
burdens and toils of life, and unconsciously murmur against the 
providence of God, by wishing to die before their time, and thus 
escape from trials which it is both their duty and their interest 
to bear. 



IX.] HOPING AND WAITING. 147 

However natural the feeling, it is not quite certain that the 
Psalmist uttered a purely spiritual desire when he sighed for 
" the wings of a dove, that he might fly away and be at rest." 
When Job, stript of property, bereft of children, and covered 
with loathsome ulcers, took a potsherd to scrape himself, and 
said, "lam weary of my life : I loathe it ; I would not live al- 
way," it is very evident that the feeling which predominated in 
his mind was intense disgust and dissatisfaction with the life 
that now is, rather than a holy longing for communing with 
God, in that which is to come. 

He was in a better frame when he afterwards said — "All 
the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change 
come." And he was standing on a loftier mount, and looking 
through a clearer medium, when, at a subsequent date, he saw 
salvation from afar, and, in the confidence of faith and hope, 
exclaimed — "I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he 
shall stand, at the latter day, upon the earth : and though, after 
my skin, worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see 
God." When Elijah, fleeing from the wrath of Jezebel, sat 
down under a juniper-tree, and in utter despondency as to his 
ever being able to accomplish any more good in the world, re- 
quested God to take away his life, and give him admittance to 
that peaceful world where the wicked cease from troubling, and 
the weary are at rest, he acted in a manner that we can very 
well understand, and betrayed an impulse of which our own 
hearts may, at times, have been conscious ; but though he was 
a good man, this was no part of his goodness. It was begotten 
of ignorance and unbelief. He little knew the service and the 
honour which awaited him. He was not to die of starvation, 
and leave his unburied bones to bleach in the wilderness. While 
he yet spake, angels were hovering over him with needed sup- 



148 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

plies. When, in the strength of that meat, he went forty days, 
and came to the Mount Horeb, voices of God and heavenly 
visions re-assured his fainting faith : and after he had cast his 
mantle on Elisha, instead of dying the common death of men, 
chariots and horses of fire were commissioned to bear him aloft, 
in visible glory, to the mansions of peace. c ' Salvation with 
eternal glory, " is a thing to be hoped and waited for : and the 
experience of these holy men of old discovers a weak side of 
human nature, in reference even to a thing so Christian and so 
desirable as departing from the body to be present with the 
Lord. There is reason to believe that very few attain that ad- 
mirable balance of the soul which Paul evinced, in that he did 
not know which to choose, being in a strait betwixt two, having 
a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better, yet 
perfectly and joyfully willing to abide in the flesh, suffering and 
toiling for the edification of the church, and the salvation of sin- 
ners. Even Whitefield, who at one time wished for a voice that 
might be heard from pole to pole, wherewith to proclaim the 
tidings of salvation, at another time was so depressed by the 
discouragement arising from small success, as to say his great 
consolation was, that in a short time his work would be done, 
when he should depart and be with Christ. The remark having 
been made in the presence of William Tennent, and his opinion 
on the subject demanded, he replied, with some degree of ab- 
ruptness, that he had u no wish about" the time of his death. 
When further pressed by Whitefield, he added — "No, sir; it 
is no pleasure to me at all, and if you knew your duty, it would 
be none to you. I have nothing to do with death ; my business 
is to live as long as I can, as well as I can, and to serve my Lord 
and Master as faithfully as I can, until he shall think proper to 
call me home." — (Log College, p. 140.) 



IX.] HOPING AND WAITING. 149 

While full and final salvation after death and in the resurrec- 
tion, is thus an object of hope, giving rise to the duty of patient 
•waiting, there are providential deliverances, which in Scripture 
are very often called salvation, and which, as we judge, are pri- 
marily intended in the text. When after his people had been 
groaning in bitter bondage for many years, God revealed his 
power and mercy, and with a high hand and an outstretched 
arm, led them forth to liberty and a rich inheritance, this was 
salvation, and under this name it was celebrated in that sublime 
song of triumph which Israel sang on the shore of the sea, while 
their enemies ' ' sank like lead in the mighty waters. " " The 
Lord is my strength and song: he is become my salvation." 
That too was a great salvation, which Israel experienced, when 
after sowing in tears by the rivers of Babylon, they gathered the 
remnant of the tribes, and with mingled tears and praises, laid 
the foundations of their temple, and restored the worship of 
their God. In the history of the church, during and since 
the age of miracles, there have been many salvations ; interpo- 
sitions of God, so necessary, so seasonable, so evident, that they 
were gratefully recognized as the operation of his hand. And 
in the life of individual believers, salvations are wrought, which 
though they may not attract the world's notice, are sweetly as- 
sured to his own heart, by the manner and time of their occur- 
rence, and the divine consolation with which they are accom- 
panied. It may have been an affliction grievous to bear ; or a 
danger from which there appeared no way of escape : or a temp- 
tation which assailed the most vulnerable part of our nature, 
and excited the worst passions of the heart. 

Under the pressure of these evils, our duty and our privilege 

is to hope and wait for the salvation of the Lord. This stands 

opposed on the one side, to the error of despondency ; sinking 
13* 



150 truth in love. [Ser. 

to inactivity and despair, as if there were no salvation ; and on 
the other, to the sin of presumption, which is unwilling to wait 
the time, and submit to the methods of God's providence and 
grace, and resorts to human devices and unauthorized means of 
deliverance. It is not the help of man* we are to look for, but 
the salvation of the Lord. In all our personal straits and temp- 
tations ; in all trials of the church ; in all the perils and calami- 
ties of the country ; and under the dark cloud of mystery which 
overhangs the world, the duty incumbent on us, as the rational 
creatures and believing children of God, is neither to sit down 
in sullen despair, as if nothing but ruin were before us ; nor, trust- 
ing in our power of endurance, to wait till the evil has spent it- 
self, and passed away ; nor to put our trust in an arm of flesh — 
in the strength, the wisdom, the policy of men — but it is to look 
on high from whence cometh our help. In times of distress and 
great darkness, there is strong temptation to betake ourselves to 
unauthorized means of relief, which, besides the sin involved, 
plunge us into deeper difficulties. What promised to be a 
quicker method of deliverance, puts farther off the day of salva- 
tion. In his perplexity, and amid the clustering dangers which 
environed his path, Saul, instead of repairing to the Lord, went 
to the witch of Endor, only with the result of deepening his guilt 
and hastening his perdition. Leagues with Egypt and Assyria 
were made by Israel to their own hurt ; they leaned on a broken 
reed which pierced the hand, when they might have grasped an 
Almighty arm. "The salvation of the Lord," stands opposed 
to all the human expedients, which spring from ignorance, un- 
belief, and presumption. In all personal and public trials and dan- 
gers, the only safe, and for many reasons, the best course to pursue, 
is this which is indicated in the text, — to hope and quietly wait for 
the salvation of the Lord. 



IX.] HOPING AND WAITING. 151 

II. And this brings us to the second general aspect of the 
subject, which is the duty inculcated ; and in reference to this, 
two points in particular are set forth with prominence. One of 
these regards the manner, and the other the motive of the duty. 
The duty is to hope and wait for the salvation of the Lord : and 
the special aspect of the duty is the patience with which we 
should hope, and the quietness with which we should wait. The 
design is not to excite, but to repress certain activities of the 
soul. It is meant to keep down impatience, and that childlike 
eagerness which cannot endure delay, and takes no account of 
those great laws of nature and Providence which interpose time 
and space between the present trial and sorrow and the blessed 
deliverance in which it is destined to have its issue. Our impa- 
tience, besides being a sin against God, and a source of torment 
to our own hearts, is utterly vain, having no power to accelerate 
the unfolding of the Divine purposes. The more absolutely quiet 
we are, in the sense of the text, the better for ourselves : and 
this is an instruction which none but those who desire an excuse 
for spiritual apathy and irreligion will be likely to misunder- 
stand. Patient hoping is not insensibility and indifference to 
the distant salvation, nor is quiet waiting the same with supine 
and fatalistic inactivity. The man who conforms to the direc- 
tion of the text, and most fully exemplifies the character it de- 
scribes, is keenly alive to the value of salvation, and unceasingly 
active in the performance of all labours, and the use of all means 
that tend to secure it, and which, by the ordination of God, are 
necessary antecedents to its bestowment. The Christian who 
can adopt the language of the Psalmist as descriptive of his own 
subdued and chastened state of mind, saying — "I have behaved 
and quieted myself as a child that is weaned of his mother : my 
soul is even as a weaned child"— is one who hungers and thirsts 



152 truth in love. [Ser. 

after righteousness, and desires complete redemption, and works 
out his own salvation with fear and trembling ; and, as a good 
servant who waits for the coming of his Lord, he stands, with 
his loins girded about him, and his lamp burning. 

He is not quiet in the sense of being asleep, or of neglecting 
his duty, but only in the respect that his heart is free from the 
unrest of discontent with his lot, and from all fretfulness under 
the burdens of life and the appointed conditions of salvation. 
His quietness is not the apathy that springs from unbelief, but 
the mental repose which is begotten of an abiding trust in God. 

If not a showy trait, it is a very precious grace, and a very 
difficult attainment. There are elements and tendencies in our 
nature which draw us strongly in the opposite direction : and 
for one child of God who exhibits ' c the patience of hope, ' ' and 
quietly waits for his salvation, you will meet with many whose 
hearts are oppressed with needless anxieties, or chafed under 
the fetters of their outward condition, or deceiving themselves 
with the thought that they are yearning for heaven and immor- 
tality, when they are only quarrelling with the sort of probation 
through which they are appointed to enter the rest which re- 
maineth for the people of Grod. It is just as much a Christian 
duty to wait as to labour, and a higher Christian achievement. 
It requires more self-control, and more thought ; a wider view 
of God's methods in providence and grace, and a stronger confi- 
dence in their infallible wisdom and absolute certainty. In the 
genealogy of the graces, as traced by Paul, Hope is the daughter 
of Experience, and out of Hope ariseth waiting ; "for if we hope 
for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." 

Both hope and waiting have their germ in experience. It is 
so in the natural life of men. The middle-aged and the old, who 
have a long while been in contact with the laws of our condition 



IX.] HOPING AND WAITING. 153 

and the realities of life, have acquired experience, and they 
have learned both to hope and wait for the temporal blessings 
which Providence gives to man; while children, who have no 
experience, are all impatience and impetuosity, and if their 
power were equal to their will, would overturn the order of the 
universe. 

These quiet graces, whose very nature forbids their being de- 
monstrative, are, therefore, commended by their intrinsic excel- 
lence ; and this may be set down as first among the reasons why 
"it is GOOD both to hope and quietly to wait for the salvation 
of the Lord. " It is morally good ; good in the sight of God. 
It is an exercise and state of soul becoming our character and 
condition as dependent creatures ; it accords and fits in with the 
principles and plan of salvation which gives the earnest of our 
inheritance now, reserving its fulness and perfection to a future 
day and another world — which plants the seed of grace in the 
heart, and nurtures it by the dews and rains of many summers, 
and gives it deeper root and inner life by the frosts and storms 
that come in the winter of our adversity. And as it respects 
that form of salvation which is given as a blessing on our labours 
and an answer to our prayers, — the conversion of sinners and 
the spread of Christ's kingdom, — it comes by little and little, 
not rapidly, but gradually, as the leaven permeates the meal, as 
the tree unfolds from the seed, and as the harvest is garnered 
long months after the seed-sowing. "Be patient, therefore, 
brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husband- 
man waiteth for the precious fruits of the earth, and hath long 
patience for it till he receive the early and latter rain. Be ye 
also patient. Stablish your hearts, for the coming of the 
Lord draweth nigh." This law of the kingdom which re- 
quires time, and involves delay, lies at the foundation of hope 



154 truth in love. [Ser. 

and waiting, and exalts them to the value and dignity of moral 
virtues and Christian graces. It is, therefore, good to exercise 
them. 

Among the special considerations which further show why it 
is good, and how good it is to exercise these graces, is the abso- 
lute certainty that those who hope and wait for the salvation of 
the Lord, shall not be disappointed. The more ardently we 
hope, and the longer we wait for an expected good, the more 
bitter our disappointment, if, at last, we miss the prize. And 
if, besides being long expected, it is intrinsically important, a 
blessing so great that to lose it, is to make shipwreck of happi- 
ness, and fail in the end and aim of life, the disappointment be- 
comes intolerable, and crushes the spirit. There are men whose 
nature it has soured beyond the power of any earthly medicine 
to cure and sweeten. Judge then, how utterly insupportable 
would be the anguish of those who had gone through all the 
toils and sorrows and changes of time, hoping and waiting for 
immortality and eternal life, if these pictured glories should van- 
ish into unsubstantial nothings, when expectation was at its 
highest pitch ; or, retaining their reality and their splendour, 
should be withheld from us, and awarded to others who had run 
the heavenly race with more fidelity ! That such disappointments 
will be suffered, we know, but . not by those who commit the 
keeping of their souls to God in well-doing, and who, with hum- 
ble faith, are hoping and waiting for his salvation. Their 
u hope maketh not ashamed." That which they have desired 
and looked for shall be received. Salvation, as a blessing on 
their labours, as a deliverance from their troubles, and as the 
complete redemption of their entire nature from sin, shall, in 
God's own good time, be given, and the only surprise occasioned 
will be, that it so far exceeds all that their eyes had seen, or their 



IX,] HOPING AND WAITING. 155 

ears heard, or their hearts imagined of what the Lord would do 
for his people. To get the object desired, and then discover 
that it is a totally different thing from what we expected, is 
even a worse disappointment than to miss it entirely. In neither 
respect can the children of God fail to realize their hopes. "The 
hope of the righteous shall be gladness, ' ' both in the certainty 
and in the glory of its fulfilment. "Beloved, now are we the 
sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be ; 
but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like him. 
For we shall see him as he is." And, my hearers, if you would 
know whether the hope that is in you is destined to have this 
blissful fruition, the infallible criterion is given. "And every 
man that hath this hope in' ' Christ, c ' purifieth himself, even 
as he is pure." 

In addition to this, we may say that hoping and waiting for 
the salvation of the Lord are good in their present influence. 
Besides being morally good as Christian graces; and good in 
respect to the perfect safety of trusting in God for the future bless- 
ing of eternal life, they are good in the sense of being immedi- 
ately beneficial, both to ourselves and others. They are greatly 
promotive of our present happiness. The hope of future bless- 
ing and deliverance begets patience under the evils and difficul- 
ties of our lot, and gives such satisfying earnests of what is in 
reserve, that we are contented with the condition assigned us, 
and feel, at times, a peace which passeth understanding. And 
while this heavenly calm is diffused within, an influence is shed 
abroad in the whole sphere of the Christian' s life and intercourse, 
which helps his brethren and honours religion. A believer who 
possesses his soul in patience in the midst of all earth's changes, 
and when men's hearts are failing for fear of the things which 
are coming on the world, who stands on the rock of God's eter- 



156 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

nal truth, and avows his unwavering confidence in the justice, 
the wisdom, and the mercy of the Divine providence ; and ex- 
hibits a cheerful hope, while he quietly waits for the salvation of 
the Lord ; is a tower of strength to his brethren — a living epis- 
tle of commendation to the religion he professes. Except it be 
the endurance of fiery trials in days of persecution, there is 
scarcely a more signal exhibition of its power. When unbelief 
and worldliness throw those who know not God into a commo- 
tion of anxiety and fear, and when perilous times do but stimu- 
late their avaricious greed, and fire their restless ambition, let 
the children of the kingdom abide in peace ; let them stand in 
their lot, and show that Christ in the heart, the hope of glory, 
contents and satisfies the needs and yearnings of an immortal 
soul. Wait with patience — work with hope, and suffer without 
complaint : and remember, the Lord is at hand. His salvation 
is nigh. 

The time is short. And now " The God of all grace who hath 
called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye 
have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, 
settle you. To him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. 
Amen. ,, 



X. I THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 157 



SERMON X. 

THE LOVE OF CHRIST, KNOWN, YET UNKNOWN. 

Eph. iii. 19. — And to hioiv the love of Christ which passeth 
knowledge. 

It seems a contradiction to speak of knowing what cannot be 
known; but like some other of the apostle's sayings, the para- 
dox is a precious truth. 

The discrepancy is on the surface and in word ; the harmony 
is profound and real. In one aspect, the love of Christ may be 
known ; in another, it "passeth knowledge." 

The subject concerning which these dissimilar statements are 
made, is the most important within the scope of human know- 
ledge or thought. Christ is a being with whom, in one relation 
or another, we all have to do. It is in him and through him 
that God deals with our sinful world. By Christ we must be 
saved, if saved at all, and before his judgment-seat we are sum- 
moned to appear. In his character and his feelings we have a 
deep stake ; and to men who are conscious of their spiritual ne- 
cessities, no theme is so comforting as this of our text — the love 
of Christ — and just because it "passeth knowledge" it is ever 
new. It is the heart of the gospel. Christ is the manifested 
love of God. The good news from heaven is that God loves the 

world, and all Scripture centres in the person and grace of Jesus. 
14 



158 truth in love. [Ser. 

The subject thus belongs to the highest mysteries of redemption, 
and is purely spiritual. It can interest deeply none but a spiritual 
mind, or a soul which the Spirit of God is preparing, through 
the conviction of sin, to receive the offered salvation. It re- 
quires love to appreciate love. 

The subject must feel, in some degree at least, what the ob- 
ject discloses, or there will be no perception of its qualities ; and 
hence the apostle, desiring that these Ephesian Christians might 
know Christ's love, prayed that they might first be " rooted and 
grounded in love," as the precedent condition of acquiring this 
knowledge. If you are a lover of Jesus Christ, the subject will 
be pleasant to you ; possibly it may melt your heart into tender- 
ness, and fill you with joy unspeakable and full of glory. If you 
are a sinner, burdened with conscious guilt, you may be led by 
such an exhibition of truth to lay down your load at the cross. 
And whatever your state of mind, the theme cannot be inappro- 
priate ; for it is the core of that glorious gospel which is the 
power of God to salvation to every one that believeth. The love 
of Christ, as known, and yet unknown, and unknowable, is the 
form of truth which the text exhibits. We may find both in- 
terest and edification in developing the harmony of these ideas. 
Both statements present the love of Christ in the relation it sus- 
tains to our intelligence, the one having regard to our capacity 
of knowledge, and the other to the limitation of that capacity. 
The love of Christ is something which may be known, yet not 
completely and exhaustively known by finite minds. The infi- 
nitude of the Godhead belongs to it ; and we can no more define 
it with the measuring-rod and the sounding- line of our finite 
faculties, than we can, i ' by searching, find out God, or know the 
Almighty to perfection. ' ' 

Knowing God is one thing ; knowing him to perfection is an- 



X.] THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 159 

other and a different thing, possible only to himself. The gauge 
of an infinite nature is an infinite understanding ; so the measure 
of infinite love is the infinite mind that feels it. Approaching 
the love of Christ from our point of view, and with our powers 
of apprehension, we find that it is something which may be 
known — that is, which may be discovered and certified to our 
souls as a divine reality — -and yet that there is an amplitude and 
an immensity belonging to it which stretches far beyond our 
present vision; and, in this respect, it is unknown, and must 
for ever remain so. There are two familiar facts of experience 
which harmonize the seeming contradiction of the text. One is 
the distinction between partial and complete knowledge, in al- 
most every department of human research. There are very few 
subjects, if any, of which our knowledge is perfect, including 
not only all that is known, but all there is to know. 

We encounter impassable boundaries in every direction. We 
can tell the sensible qualities of a clod of unorganized matter, 
but while we know there is a substance which underlies those 
qualities and hides behind them, we cannot discern it, and much 
less describe it. We look on a blade of grass, perceive its colour, 
form, texture, and assign it to its place according tojbhe classifi- 
cations of botany, but that occult principle of vegetable life which 
determines its growth and species, eludes all scrutiny of micro- 
scope or metaphysics. In one sense it is known ; in another it 
passes knowledge. We stand on the shore of the ocean, and its 
illimitable expanse stretches out to the point where sky and 
water seem to touch. We speak truly when we say we have 
seen the ocean ; but our knowledge is almost nothing, compared 
with our ignorance. We have only gazed on its surface ; we 
have not gone down in fancy even to its ' ' dark, unfathomed 
caves," where the waters sleep in perpetual repose; and we 



160 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

have surveyed but a little patch of an area that is almost im- 
mense. The same disparity exists between our knowledge and 
our ignorance of all the works of God. They are all invested 
with the mystery which belongs to himself — the Infinite and the 
Eternal. Of Creation, Providence, and Redemption, it is alike 
true — " we know in part. " It is because we are finite, and God 
is infinite. The love of Christ is referable to the same law. 
We know it, and yet we know it not. Where the difference be- 
tween the known and the unknown is so great, it frequently 
happens that subsequent discoveries greatly modify previous 
views ; and sometimes what we had called and considered know- 
ledge ' 6 vanishes away' ' in the clearer light to which we have at- 
tained : and the question arises, whether what we know, or think 
we know of Christ and his redeeming love, may not be subject 
to the like mutations, and be displaced by future disclosures. 
Seeing through a glass darkly, perhaps, it is but shadows and 
illusions we behold. Looking with childish eyes, and thinking 
with a child's understanding, may we not hereafter, becoming 
men, put away as puerilities what now we dignify as know- 
ledge? 

In the werld of philosophy and metaphysics, theory has chased 
theory like the flitting clouds of the sky : and even in the do- 
main of natural science, the knowledge of one age has been 
proved to be ignorance by the next. Have we any guarantee in 
the matter of our salvation, that what we know of Christ and 
his love will not in like manner be dissipated by the clearer light 
of coming revelations? This suggests a second remark touching 
the difference between knowing anything experimentally, and 
knowing it comprehensively, or the difference between knowing 
its nature and reality, and knowing its extent or amount. In 
the former sense the love of Christ may be known : in the latter 



XJ THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 161 

it passetli knowledge. Though, in a comparative view, it is but 
little of it that we know by experience, the knowledge thus ac- 
quired is of such a nature as to give perfect assurance to the 
mind. The evidence is like that of the senses : it is the touch 
and taste of the soul. If you quench your thirst at a spring 
which gurgles up at the foot of a mountain, you have as com- 
plete and certain knowledge of water, as though you could pene- 
trate the hidden recesses from which that spring arose, or could 
follow it in all its meanderings, and observe its increase till it min- 
gled in the great river, and finally is lost in the mighty ocean. 
You know, by that single draught of a cupful, the qualities of 
water, though you know not its extent — whence it comes 
and whither it goes. It is thus with the believer's knowledge 
of Christ's love. He tastes, and sees that the Lord is gracious ; 
but as to comprehending the length, and breadth, and depth, 
and height of that whose reality and nature he is assured of, this 
is quite impossible. It will form an eternal study, and affords 
room for endless progress. But that progress will be in the line 
on which he has already started. It will be just knowing more 
and more of the extent of that love of which he already knows 
the nature by experience. All the witnesses or the philosophers 
in the world, or that ever will be in the world, could neither 
deepen nor destroy any man's conviction as to the adaptedness 
of water to quench thirst ; experience is the highest and the last 
evidence that the case admits of, and this he has. The love of 
Christ is witnessed to the sense of the inner man in the same 
way. ' ' He that believeth hath the witness in himself. " " The 
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of living water 
springing up into everlasting life. ' ' 
It thus appears how the love of Christ in one view is known, 

and in another unknown, and what the security is that nothing 
H* 



162 truth in love. [Ser. 

that shall be developed in time or eternity can essentially change 
the views and impressions of it, which the Christian now enter- 
tains. The only sense in which change is possible, is the better 
knowledge of what he already knows imperfectly ; and the ma- 
turing of those experiences, the germs of which are already im- 
planted : and this is a process which, for aught that appears, 
may go on for ever. 

New aspects and exhibitions of the love of Christ may con- 
tinue to be unfolded through immortal ages. Taking with us 
the twofold conception, the truth and harmony of which we 
have thus endeavoured to set forth, we may now come to the 
direct consideration of our Redeemer's love, in those qualities 
and manifestations of it which are revealed in Scripture, and as- 
certained by experience. In every view we can take of it, it will 
be found a ' ' love that passeth knowledge. ' ' 

We might trace its antiquity, and we should find its origin in 
the remoteness of a past eternity. It antedates the existence of 
man, and the foundation of the world. In the certain foreknow- 
ledge that the creature he had proposed to make would fall, 
4 c the Word who was in the beginning with God and was Grod, ' ' 
had thoughts of love to man, and the Counsel of Redemption 
was entered into between the Persons of the Godhead. ' ' From 
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was, ' ' the wis- 
dom, the Aoyos, the Eternal Son of Grod existed, and his delights 
were with the sons of men. Yielding himself to the Father's 
will, in reference to the salvation of the fallen race, Christ was 
from everlasting c ' fore-ordained' ' to be the Redeemer of sinners. 

Here is a mystery deep and awful as the interior nature and 
the relation of person in the triune Grod. That is a mysterious, 
an incomprehensible love, which anticipated our fall, our exist- 
ence, the creation of the world in which we live, and provided 



X.] THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 163 

for an emergency which was almost infinitely distinct. Nor was 
it a mere governmental plan, a politic calculation of what was 
best to be done in the case that was certain to arise. The Scrip- 
tures do not so represent the matter : but in the most express 
terms ascribe the whole scheme to the love and compassion of 
God. ' ' Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, ' ' and 
c ' God so loved the world that he gave his Son. ' ' 

In its antiquity — its absolute eternity — the love of Christ is 
mysterious, and solemnly impressive. 

It " passeth knowledge," in the sovereignty of its discrimina- 
tions. If it is a wonder that he should love apostate creatures 
at all, it is even more a mystery that he should distinguish 
among creatures equally guilty and miserable : yet, that he has 
done so is a fact revealed in the word of God, and in the pre- 
sence of which we can only say, as he himself said, — "Even so, 
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. ' ' Angels were a no- 
bler race, earlier created, and sooner undone by sin. Their re- 
bellion extinguished God's love for them; and thunderbolts of 
vengeance hurled them down to hell, where they are reserved in 
chains and darkness unto the judgment of the great day. From 
their exalted nature it is probable that they suffer beyond any- 
thing that men can suffer. They need redemption therefore, 
and it would be a bold, if not presumptuous assertion, to say 
they are for any reason incapable of being redeemed. We do 
not know that it was impossible to Almighty power and infinite 
wisdom. We only know the fact that it was not done — a fact 
not only mentioned in Scripture, but brought in for the purpose 
of illustrating the rich and sovereign grace which redeems sin- 
ners of mankind : £ ' Christ took not on him the nature of angels ; 
but he took on him the seed of Abraham. ' ' 

Creatures who once had shone as seraphs near the throne of 



164 truth in love. [Ser. 

God, were passed by and left without a Saviour, and without 
hope, while to us, who, among rational creatures, are at the bot- 
tom of the scale, Christ came to seek and save the lost. 

Can you solve the mystery of this sovereign discrimination ? 
And is not this very mystery an element in the moral power of 
the love that saves us ? Kindred to this in nature and in mystery 
is the sovereign freeness of Christ's love to individual sinners of 
our race. 

It is a glorious truth that the love and redemption of Christ 
have relations to all mankind. The nature which Jesus assumed 
into unity with his eternal divinity, is that borne by every indi- 
vidual of the race which God hath made of "one blood, to 
dwell on all the face of the earth. ' ' The atoning virtue of the 
blood he shed on Calvary, is such as justifies the offer of salva- 
tion to " every creature under heaven," and warrants the faith 
of every one who is willing to receive it. To this extent and in 
this sense, God loves the world, and there is no difference be- 
tween the Jew and the Greek, or between one man and another. 
But in point of fact, how wide the difference which by his pro- 
vidence he puts between the nations of the earth, and between 
individuals in the same community ? As it respects the means 
of grace and the offer of salvation, some have them, and others 
have them not, and this difference, in a multitude of instances, 
is linked with salvation, and in all cases, sustains an important 
relation to it. 

Furthermore : within the circle of those who live under the 
light of the gospel, there is " an election of grace, ' ' composed 
of actual believers. Many of those before me this morning, 
have an humble trust that they are of the number. To such I 
propound the inquiry — How came you to be a believer in Jesus, 
while so many around you live and die in impenitence? Is it 



X.] THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 165 

because you were by nature, better than they ? No, in no wise. 
You were the child of wrath and the servant of sin, even as 
others. The Scriptures ascribe the cause of the difference to 
the special love and special grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, who 
by the effectual working of his Spirit applies the redemption 
which he purchased by his blood ; and all true believers confess 
the fact when their Christian heart finds utterance in devotion. 

They thank God for providing redemption, but more, if possi- 
ble, for applying it. That is a form of love more tender, 
special, and personal. It brings our individual soul under the 
eye of Omniscience, and the thought that the heart of Jesus 
flowed forth to us, is quite overwhelming. When you behold 
him, the babe of Bethlehem, you wonder and adore, and are 
ready to lay at his feet the costliest oblations of earth ; gazing 
at him on the cross, you mourn for him, and weep for your sins ; 
but when he comes to you yourself, with garments died on Cal- 
vary, the good Shepherd following his wandering sheep in the 
wilderness, and bearing it back to the fold in safety and in 
triumph, your inmost soul is melted, and you break forth in 
that song which is the prelude of heaven's eternal anthem, to 
Him that loved us and washed us in his own blood : — 

" Jesus sought me when a stranger, 
Wandering from the fold of God." 

"By the grace of God, I am what I am." " God who is 
rich in mercy, for the great love wherewith he loved me, even 
when I was dead in sins, hath quickened me together with 
Christ." 

The love of Christ to the individual heirs of salvation is its 
most precious and potent element : but certainly also, the most 
mysterious. You have often asked the reason why, only to an- 
swer with adoring wonder and thankful tears. 



166 truth in love. [Ser. 

Unsearchable in its sovereign freeness to individuals, the love 
of 'Christ ' ■ passeth knowledge ' ' in the nature and extent of its 
sacrifices. The accepted standard and measure of love is the 
amount of what it will do, give, and suffer, for its object. Human 
love is tested thus, and sometimes is proved to be very small, 
though sometimes as deep as that which a person feels for him- 
self. The profession of love, if unsupported by substantial and 
visible fruits in act and service, is justly suspected of insincerity : 
if it have these seals, it needs no verbal declaration. That man 
is our best and most devoted friend who sacrifices and suffers 
most on our behalf. 

Pleasant words, courteous acts, and all the gentle charities of 
life, are not without their value, but it requires a heart of warm 
and deep affection to suffer for us. A parent will do it for the 
child that is bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, but outside 
the circle of nearest and dearest kindred this style of love is 
seldom seen. The love of Christ is peculiarly and pre-eminently 
a suffering love. As a Redeemer, his pathway lay through the 
midst of mighty sorrows and mysterious sufferings: but he 
' - loved the church, ' ' and therefore gave himself for it, to all the 
humiliation and the grief involved in its salvation. 

From the time he left his glorious throne, to the hour he re- 
turned to it, he was a sufferer, either in the sense of deprivation 
or of positive pain : and his sufferings were, for many reasons, 
incomprehensible and mysterious. It is an accepted article of 
theology, that the Godhead is impassible, or incapable of suffer- 
ing, yet the only form in which we can think of the Incarnation, 
is that of an obscuration of his glory, a laying aside somewhat 
which made the act a sacrifice, and the assumption of somewhat 
which involved humiliation in the second Person of the Trinity. 
The Scriptures so present the subject, and we need not fear to 



X,] THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 167 

follow where they lead us. u Ye know the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he be- 
came poor." 

When we behold him on earth, the Grodman, the Christ, there 
is no difficulty felt, when we think of him as a sufferer ; and from 
first to last we see him, ' ' A man of sorrows and acquainted with 
grief. ' ' He suffered, being tempted ' c in all points like as we 
are, yet without sin. ' ' 

He suffered in his body, and in his soul ; from men, from de- 
vils ; and from the stern justice of Heaven : and all for the love 
he bore to perishing sinners. If his sufferings pass knowledge, 
so also his love, and the one as much as the other : and it were 
a fit study for us to-day, to make one of these the gauge of the 
other. Though both are mysteriously intense and deep, the one 
is visible, the other inward and spiritual ; from that which is 
seen, we may estimate what is unseen. The tears he shed over 
Jerusalem, the deep sigh that he heaved at the grave of Laza- 
rus, the 4 l strong crying and tears ' ' with which he prayed in the 
garden of Gethseniane ; the bloody sweat that appeared as he 
lay prostrate on the ground, being in "an agony, ' ' and ' ' his soul 
exceeding sorrowful even unto death, ' ' the thorns that pierced his 
sacred brow, and the barbed arrow that entered his soul when 
Peter denied him ; and all those clustering woes and heavy loads 
which, by the agency of man and the permission of God, op- 
pressed him on the cross, till sinking beneath their overwhelm- 
ing pressure, he bowed his head and gave up the ghost, — these, 
and such as these, are the visible exponents of a sorrow, and so 
the visible demonstrations of a love, which no articulate 
speech can utter, or finite understanding grasp. 
How wondrous was the burning zeal, 
Which filled the Master's breast, 



168 truth in love. [Ser. 

When all his sufferings full in view, 

To Salem's towers he pressed ? 
Dear Lord, no tongue can duly tell, 

Thy love's prevailing might, 
No thought can comprehend its length, 

And breadth, and depth, and height. 

" Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down 
his life for his friends. But God commendeth his love towards us, 
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ' ' 

4 'Passing knowledge" in its sacrifices, the love of Christ is 
alike incomprehensible in its benefits. That which results 
to us from the love and sorrow of Jesus, is in general salvation ! 
We know it, and yet we know it not. In one sense we have it, 
in another, we have it not ; but we wait till Christ shall come the 
second time without sin unto salvation. In both respects it 
u passeth knowledge," but in the one more than the other. 
What the love of Christ gives us now, is pardon and peace, and 
hope, and "joy unspeakable and full of glory." We pain- 
fully feel that the redemption of our souls is but in its incipient 
stages ; temptation without, and corruption within, is a serious 
and constant drawback to our happiness ; yet would we not ex- 
change for thrones and sceptres, what Christ gives us even now, 
in the grace that helps us, and the love that comforts us, and the 
sweet communion that unites our sympathetic souls together, 
and the honour he puts upon us as co-workers with himself in 
achieving the redemption of men. The experiences of grace be- 
low, are worth more than all worlds to us, and are so accounted 
by the true believer. He has feelings at times which he cannot 
express — which he, perhaps, does not try to express, unless to 
God. Tears of penitence, gratitude, adoration, betray them. 
They are mixed, it may be, with c ' groanings which cannot be 



X.] THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 169 

uttered,' ' but taken in their complexity of light and shade, of 
joy and sadness, they are a sacred treasure which the Christian 
lays away in the innermost shrine of his soul. He would rather 
die than surrender it. 

If this be true, and no exaggeration, what shall we say or 
think of the benefits which Christ's love reserves for us in a fu- 
ture life and a better world? If the "joy of salvation" is un- 
speakable, what will be the joy of heavenly and eternal glory ? 
Though it "doth not yet appear what we shall be," we know 
something of that wondrous destiny, and have the data for a 
sort of spiritual arithmetic by which the relation and the ratio of 
grace to glory and earth to heaven may be determined. It is 
but an approximation, yet it is substantially true. 

Grace is an earnest of glory ; a little of it in advance, to teach 
us its nature, and assure us of its future possession. The differ- 
ence is that between a taste which provokes the appetite and a 
full meal which satisfies hunger. Grace is the ' ' first-fruits of 
the harvest," and no more in comparison with eternal glory, than 
a handful of stalks to an ample barn filled in every part with 
sheaves. 

Under another figure, grace is the childhood of the believer, 
when he thinks as a child and speaks as a child : the state of 
glory is his perfect manhood when, ceasing ' - to know in part, 
he shall know even as also he is known." 

The Christian's earthly state is the night of his ignorance ; 
heaven "is the perfect day" of bright illumination, which will 
scatter all clouds from his sky, and all darkness from his heart, 
and make him acquainted with the interior nature of mysteries 
of which on earth he did not know the existence. In every ele- 
ment of our personal character and relations that state will be 

" far better," than the present, and the "love of Christ" will 
15 



170 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

discover itself in new and glorious forms throughout eternal 
ages. The prophets who, with but half-knowledge of their pre- 
dictions, foretold "the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that 
should follow ; ' ' the apostles who, with the Holy Ghost sent down 
from heaven, proclaimed the redemption which is through his 
blood; and the angels, who with holy eagerness desire to look into 
the mysteries of Jesus' grace to guilty man, are pursuing still 
the sublime study in the realms of light, and the declaration of 
the text is as true to them as it is to us — the c ' love of Christ 
which passe th knowledge. " If we know this love in the remis- 
sion of our sins and the purification of our hearts, we shall pre- 
sently join that "innumerable company" of glorified students, 
and as fresh revelations break on our enraptured gaze, the "new 
song 5 ' — for ever new — will burst from our lips, and ' ' Worthy 
the Lamb that was slain, to receive power and riches, and wisdom 
and strength, and honour and glory and blessing," will resound 
through all the plains of paradise. 

The experience of earth, in its great essential feature, will be 
transferred to heaven — the love of Christ, known by a blessed 
experience, and yet in its divine and infinite fulness, "passing 
the knowledge' ' of human souls and finite natures. If it could 
be comprehended, its transcendent charm would vanish, and 
heaven would lose one of its most peculiar joys. 

On a theme so high and holy, our words and thoughts and 
comparisons are poor and beggarly ; yet must we thus speak, 
or not speak at all. As we could, we have set before you that 
love whose chief expression we this day commemorate in the 
Holy Supper. 

It is mysterious and infinite as the Godhead of Him in whom 
it dwells. It "passeth knowledge" in its eternity, its sove- 
reignty, its freeness, its sacrifices, and its benefits. And now I 



X.] THE LOVE OF CHRIST. 171 

lay it on your heart as the balm of its wounds, and the very 
power of God for your inward and eternal redemption. 

His blood paid the price of your release from the curse of the 
law ; his love loosens the c ' bond^of iniquity, ' ' and attracts the 
ransomed soul to a willing and loyal service. If his love to you 
" passes knowledge," yours to him should exceed all other loves 
that sway your heart. For his infinite love, give him your sin- 
cere and supreme affection — all that the weak vessel of a finite 
and sinful heart can contain. By the response you make to this 
appeal, your spiritual character and condition will be tested. 
"With the blood-stained pledge of love in his hands, he comes to 
you this day, as to Peter by the sea of Galilee, mildly but so- 
lemnly asking the question — ' ' Lovest thou me?' ' It is as much 
as to say — "I love you — I have loved you with an everlasting 
love — I have died for you — I am living to make intercession for 
you — I am ready to crown you with glory and honour, and give 
you eternal life, — Lovest thou me?" 

The secret answers which are made to this question he hears. 
One in the profound consciousness of a true heart, may be, says, 
with Peter — "Lord, thou knowest all things : thou knowest that 
I love thee. ' ' 

Others — a goodly company — can say, perhaps, with Paul — 
"The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, 
that if one died for all, then were all dead : and that he died for 
all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto them- 
selves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. ' ' 

A self-distrusting heart, melting into tenderness, exclaims — 

" Lord, it is my chief complaint, 
That my love is weak and faint : 
Yet I love thee and adore, 
Oh ! for grace to love thee more." 



172 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

Another, drawn hither and thither by the opposing forces of 
grace and sin, and bewildered by contradictory proofs, will sigh, 
with Newton — 

" Let me love tlfee more and more, 
If I love at all, I pray ; 
If I have not loved before, 
Help me to begin to-day." 

Below this, love is non-existent, and many, by their silence, 
confess that, unto them, Christ is " a root out of a dry ground, 
having no form nor comeliness." To these let me say, in his 
name, Christ this day, now and here, makes you the tender of 
his love and salvation. "I love them that love me, and those 
that seek me early shall find me. If a man love me, he will 
keep my words : and my Father will love him, and we will come 
unto him, and make our abode with him." 



XI.] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 173 



SERMON XI. 
THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 

John vii. 39. — But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that 
believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet 
given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. 

In its most general aspect, this passage suggests the idea that 
God, in saving men, works according to a plan. There is order, 
sequence, dependence in his working. He does one thing, ra- 
ther than another ; and at a certain time, rather than before or 
after. In his own infinite and eternal mind, there is no such 
thing as the succession of ideas, or the discovery of truth by 
logical processes ; but when the thoughts of God come forth in 
revelation and accomplishment, in the experience of man and 
the salvation of the church, there is observed a logical relation 
of the parts, and a successive development, in time, of the Divine 
Mind, which show that the whole work of redemption proceeds 
according to a perfect and eternal plan. ' ' The History of Re- 
demption," as President Edwards names the actual unfolding 
of this plan, in the calling, gathering, and sanctification of the 
church, is as much more orderly, and — so to speak — more pro- 
foundly philosophical, than any other history, as the church is 
the object of God's more special care and immediate control — in 

fact, the workmanship of his own hands. 
15* 



174 truth in love. [Ser. 

That such a plan exists, binding all Divine acts and human 
events connected with the salvation of men in one great economy, 
and requiring them to occur in a certain consecutive order, is 
indicated in the clearest manner by the two Testaments, the Old 
and the New, which reveal the will of God, and record the gra- 
dual accomplishment of his purpose. The Old naturally and 
necessarily precedes the New : the New is required to fulfil and 
develop the Old. The one is the primary school-book, which the 
church studied in its childhood, under tutors and governors. 
It contained "the rudiments" of Divine knowledge, milk for 
babes : the New unfolds the higher mysteries of the kingdom 
of heaven, and carries its disciples " on to perfection. ' ' 

This settled plan appears also in the different, successive, and 
improving dispensations under which the covenant of grace has 
been administered. The patriarchal, with its scanty revelations, 
and simple worship, and pilgrim life, was, at the Exodus, and 
in Canaan, merged in the Jewish, which was characterized by a 
complete, and even cumbrous system of rites and laws, c ' im- 
posed until the time of reformation, ' ' when Christ came, fulfilling 
the law, bringing in a " better covenant, ' ' and setting up the 
Christian dispensation, under which the kingdom of God is to 
exist, and grow, and be purified, until the church militant shall 
,be swallowed up in the church triumphant, and all means of 
grace and ordinances of worship shall be displaced and made 
unnecessary by the presence of Jesus, and the fulness of an 
i ; eternal redemption. ' ' 

Another remarkable indication of the Divine plan, of which 
the history of the church is the visible evolution, is the manner 
in which the Persons of the Godhead come forward on the scene 
of revelation and of action. Under the Old Testament, the mys- 
tery of the holy Trinity was but obscurely revealed, while the 



XL] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 175 

unity of the Godhead is set forth in great prominence : and as, 
in the economy of redemption, the Father represents and acts 
for the Godhead, we may regard the Old Testament as in some 
sense the dispensation of the Father. It was long, obscure, 
preparatory. At its close, the Son became incarnate, and the 
period of his earthly sojourn was the dispensation of the second 
Person of the adorable Godhead. It was very short, but the 
greatest events of the world's history were crowded into it. The 
atoning death of Je^us Christ was the culminating point of 
all previous history, and the point of departure for all that is yet 
to come. In the thirty- three years of his humiliation, Jesus did 
more for the world's salvation than had been achieved in the 
four thousand that preceded — much as that was, and of indis- 
pensable necessity. What the period lacked in mere chrono- 
logical duration, is more than compensated by the magnitude of 
its events, and the rapidity with which the scheme of grace ad- 
vanced towards its consummation. Having done all that was 
assigned him, — all that in his humiliation it was possible for 
him to do, the Son returned to his glory, and the Spirit is re- 
vealed in the Divine personality of his nature and the abundant 
grace of his mission. How long his ' ' ministration' ' will con- 
tinue is unknown to men. All that is revealed is, that it will 
continue till the mystery of God is finished, and the purchased 
redemption applied to all the saved. In exhibiting the work 
of the Spirit in its connexion with that of the Son, and the Fa- 
ther, and as having an appointed place in the order of events 
and of time, in the progress of human salvation, the text gives 
us a theme of meditation both interesting and practical, and in 
every respect of the highest importance. 

The form of truth it presents, is the previous withholding and 
the present bestowment of the Holy Spirit. "But this spake 



176 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive ; 
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given ; because that Jesus was 
not yet glorified. ' ' 

1. The statement that " The Holy Ghost was not yet given," 
.covers the whole period of the Old Testament dispensation, and 
the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, even up to the very hour 
of his ascension. In determining the sense of this statement, it 
is obvious, on the slightest inspection of Scripture, that it does 
not and cannot mean a total and absolute withholding of the 
Spirit. It does not mean either that the Spirit was not revealed 
or that he did not operate on the minds of men before Christ 
entered into his glory. He was revealed, and he did work as a 
spirit of inspiration in the prophets, who " spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost, ' ' and as a spirit of holiness in the 
hearts of believers. He went further : he strove as a Spirit of 
conviction with the antediluvian sinners of Noah's time, and 
with unbelievers in Israel, who ' ' rebelled' ' against Jehovah, and 
4 c vexed his Holy Spirit. ' ' 

In both miraculous operations and saving influences, the Spirit 
did things of the same kind that he did after the ascension of 
Christ, and that he does now. 

The difference is one of degree : and when it is said he ' i was 
not then given, ' ' the meaning must be that he was not bestowed 
in the same manner and amount as now. If he had not been 
given at all — the world would have lain in absolute darkness and 
death. Not one soul would have been converted and sanctified. 
The existence of such men as Abel and Enoch before the flood ; 
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the age of the patriarchs ; of 
Moses, Joshua, and David, Samuel and Isaiah, and others sf 
whom time would fail to tell, in the periods of the Judges under 
the theocracy, proves that the Spirit of God wrought in the 



XL] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 177 

souls of men with mighty power. As there is a sense in which 
Christ was in the world before his incarnation, appearing in the form 
of a man, in those momentary theophanies which patriarchs and 
prophets beheld ; so there is a sense in which the Spirit was in 
the world before he was ' c given ' ' by the ascended and glorified 
Saviour. 

But this was in a measure so small that, generally and popularly 
speaking, it might be said, the Spirit was not yet given. With 
this announcement of fact, the Evangelist with equal ex- 
plicitness assigns the reason for it. c c The Holy Grhost was not 
yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified. ' ' The previous 
withholding of the Spirit was not an arbitrary restraint imposed 
on the love and grace of this Divine person and mighty agent, 
but had a ground in the great economy of salvation which the 
wisdom of God devised. A certain lapse of time, and progress 
of events, and performance of Divine acts, must take place be- 
fore the Spirit can properly, and with the best effect, be given in 
this particular manner and in such copious effusion. And in 
particular, it must needs be that Jesus first suffer and enter into 
his glory. On this hinged the descent of the Spirit. On the 
strength of the Saviour's promised coming, the Spirit had been 
given in a small degree ; sin had been pardoned, and the glad 
news of salvation published within a limited circle ; but it re- 
quired the accomplished facts of his incarnation, life, death, re- 
surrection, and ascension to glory, to prepare the way for the 
Spirit's mission, and to supply the materials requisite to its ra- 
pid and complete performance: and with such light as the 
Scriptures afford, we may find it a profitable study to trace the 
connexion between the glorification of the Son and the gift of 
the Spirit. 

On earth, the glory of Christ was veiled by the likeness of 



178 truth in love. [Ser. 

human flesh and the form of a servant which he assumed, and 
especially by the shame of his death on the cross. When he 
burst the bars of the grave, the cloud began to pass off; and 
during the forty days which intervened before he ascended, the 
radiant Divinity which his sacred body enshrined shone forth 
with brightening lustre, until from Olivet he disappeared from 
mortal eyes, and entered into the glory he had with the Father 
before the world was. Much as this is, it is not the whole of 
what is implied in the glorifying of Jesus Christ. Besides re- 
suming the throne, the sceptre, and the glory which he had 
relinquished, when ' ' for our sakes he became poor, ' ' he was 
■ ! crowned with glory and honour' ' as the mediatorial king of 
the world and head of the church. Because c ' he made himself 
of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and 
became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, God 
hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above 
every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, 
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. ' ' Such is 
his glory, and first of all we connect the gift of the Spirit with 
his regal office and universal dominion. The Spirit is a donation 
worthy of heaven's king. When he ascended up on high, he 
' c received gifts for men, ' ' chief and first of all of which is the 
bestowment of the Comforter. Standing amid the scenes of 
that wondrous " day of Pentecost," Peter referred them to the 
glorified Saviour, whom the cavilling Jews around him had cru- 
cified and slain : " by the right hand of God exalted, and hav- 
ing received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he 
hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. ' ' This passage, 
while it connects the bestowment of the Spirit with the princely 
exaltation of Christ, suggests the further idea of its dependence 
on a covenant-engagement between the Father and the Son. 



XL] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 179 

The Spirit was promised to Jesus, in trust, as it were, for the 
church and the world, on condition that he would die for men, 
and, by his atonement, remove all moral and legal obstructions 
out of the way of their being renewed and sanctified. His resur- 
rection from the dead and entrance into glory was the proof that 
he had fulfilled the condition of the promise, and now not only 
the mercy, but the righteousness and truth of God concurred in 
sending forth the* Spirit. 

Underlying these facts, and even more deeply imbedded in 
the economy of grace, there is another reason why the mission 
of the Spirit should be deferred till after the sacrifice and ascen- 
sion of the Son, and when these had taken place, should be no 
longer delayed. The purchase of redemption was the act of the 
Son ; its application is the work of the Spirit. Naturally, the 
purchase precedes the application, and there appears no reason, 
when the one had been made, why the other should not imme- 
diately proceed. The sovereign balm of atoning blood was pre- 
pared, and the world is perishing in its sin ; why should the 
Spirit longer tarry? 

The lever which is to raise mankind from the horrible pit and 
the miry clay of their spiritual ruin, is furnished in the cross, 
and in the facts and doctrines of the gospel which reveal it, and 
there is no longer any fitness of things, nor economic necessuy, 
nor reason of any sort, why this Divine and mighty instrument 
of regeneration and life should not be applied to elevate, redeem, 
and save the lost. Jesus is glorified in heaven ; now let him be 
glorified on earth by the revelation of his grace, and the applica- 
tion of his blood to those who sit in darkness and lie in the em- 
braces of spiritual death. As before he was glorified the Spirit 
was not given, now that he is crowned with light and invested 
with universal and supreme dominion, enlisting his providence 



180 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei\ 

in aid of his grace, let the Spirit of love and power come down 
in the plenitude of his gifts and influences, and abide with the 
church, and breathe his quickening breath upon the world ! 

II. Having thus found a vital connexion existing between the 
mediatorial glory with which the risen Saviour is crowned, and 
the ministration of the Spirit which follows it — a connexion so 
close and necessaiy, that before one of these events had taken 
place the other could not occur, and could not be longer delayed 
after its appointed antecedent had become a fact of history — we 
have remaining the most directly practical portion of our sub- 
ject, in tracing the characteristics of this last dispensation of 
the covenant of grace, which has for its grand peculiarity and 
crowning glory the mission of 'the Holy Ghost. 

It is fully implied in all that has gone before in this discourse, 
that the church is thereby placed in an advanced position. If 
any one thinks that the visible glory of the pillar of cloud and 
fire, the celestial voices, the angels' visits, the inspired prophets, 
and miraculous deliverances which were the salient points and 
distinguishing features of the Old Covenant, were better than 
this calm, quiet, spiritual kingdom, of which you cannot say 
" Lo, here, or lo, there," this is but to confess that in our indi- 
vidual progress we have not kept pace with that of the Divine 
plan ; and it is to run against the express decision of an inspired 
apostle, who describes the former as "the ministration of death," 
and asks, in the face of all its outward and material splendour — 
" How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glori- 
ous?"— 2 Cor. iii. 8. 

If you fancy that the golden age of the church must surely 
have been enjoyed when the incarnate God dwelt among men, 
and they beheld his glory, and bowed at his feet, and reposed 
on his breast, I acknowledge it is hard, on general grounds, to 



XI.] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 181 

show that such a thought is mistaken, and would not venture, 
in an authoritative manner, to pronounce it so, if he himself had 
not declared it " expedient that he should go away, that the 
Comforter might come." A glorified Eedeemer, revealed by 
the Spirit, and seen by faith, is more to the soul than Jesus was 
to Mary Magdalene, when in that well-known voice he pronounced 
her name, and she fell at his feet to worship him ; or to Thomas, 
when gazing upon his pierced hands and wounded side, he cried 
— " My Lord, and my God." 

Gather up all the tender and holy memories which these Gos- 
pel Histories record ; group all the scenes of which Incarnate 
Love was the luminous centre, Bethlehem and Nazareth, the 
temple and the garden, the \ipper-room at Jerusalem, and the 
house of Mary and Martha, — view him with every ray of light 
which the recorded facts of 'his life and the colouring of a sancti- 
fied imagination cast upon him, and yet I must assure you that 
this view of Jesus is dim and distant, compared with that direct 
spiritual vision of his grace and glory which the illumination of 
the Spirit affords to the believing heart. "Thomas," said he, 
1 'because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are 
they that have not seen, and yet have believed. ' ' 

The Spirit ' ' glorifies ' ' the Son by revealing him to faith ; 
and when thus apprehended, the vision inspires joy unspeakable 
and full of glory. Our first lesson, therefore, is to appreciate 
the wondrous privilege we enjoy, occupying a higher position, 
and, under the teaching of the Spirit, having more knowledge of 
Christ and salvation than patriarchs, prophets, or apostles, up 
to the day of Pentecost, And on this subject no didactic state- 
ment or proof-text of Scripture will so commend the truth to 
our convictions, as the inspired narrative of facts which occurred 

at Jerusalem on the fiftieth day after the Saviour's resurrection, 
16 



182 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

and the tenth from his ascension. The event which then took 
place was the subject of many Old Testament predictions, and 
of the Saviour's recent and specific promise. " This is that," 
said Peter, " which was spoken by the prophet Joel: And it 
shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of 
my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters 
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your 
old men shall dream dreams ; and on my servants and on my 
handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit. ' ' And 
Jesus, in the hour of his ascension, commanded the apostles not 
to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the 
Father, "which," saith he, u ye have heard of me : for John 
truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost not many days hence. ' ' 

Excited and inspired by such promises, the church waited and 
prayed through the intervening days. When the day of Pente- 
cost was fully come, the ministration of the Spirit was inaugu- 
rated with an unprecedented and glorious outpouring of miracu- 
lous gifts and converting grace. 

Two things are specially observable. One is the instantane- 
ous and wonderful progress which the apostles themselves 
made in the knowledge of Christ, and the nature of his kingdom 
and salvation. After all he had taught them on this subject, 
both before and after his resurrection, they surprise us, in the 
moment of his ascension with the question, — "Wilt thou, at this 
time, restore again the kingdom to Israel?" Showing that the 
veil of carnal hopes and Jewish prejudices was still upon their 
hearts. He gave them no satisfaction, but told them to "wait 
for the Spirit. ' ' After he was come, they did not need to in- 
quire. A flood of spiritual illumination fell upon the Old Tes- 
tament, on the facts of the Saviour's life and death, and upon 



XI.] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 183 

all his doctrines, and for the first time, they comprehended the 
glorious truth that the kingdom and salvation of Jesus Christ 
were spiritual : and they never needed to learn that lesson over 
again. The "anointing" they received, was once for all; it 
remained with them, leading them into all truth, and bringing 
all things to their remembrance. Dear and precious as is the 
name of " Comforter," by which our translators render the ori- 
ginal title of Paraclete (napdKXriTos), which Jesus applies to the 
Spirit, it seems to narrow the sense of the term. Comfort, " joy 
in the Holy Grhost," which, of course, we greatly desire and 
highly appreciate are much, but there are other effects of his 
presence and power, which are not less important to the growth 
of the renewed man, the upbuilding of the church, and the con- 
version of the world. Prominent among these, and comprehen- 
sive of most, is the teaching office of the Spirit. He is both the 
inspirer and the interpreter of Scripture. Having taught pro- 
phets and apostles to write it, he now teaches the church to un- 
derstand it. In this double sense, he is " the Spirit of truth." 
The ' ' Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will 
send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all 
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you." 
His illumination relates primarily to Jesus Christ, the sun of 
the spiritual world ; and since all Scripture, with more or less 
directness, points to him, the Spirit opens our eyes to discern 
its doctrine, touching all divine and heavenly things. When he 
is come, "He shall testify of me," said Jesus. " He shall take 
of mine, and shall show it unto you," and by this testimony and 
manifestation, ' ' he shall glorify me. ' ' While Christ is thus re- 
vealed and glorified in the church, and in the view of the believ- 
ing heart, there is required a revelation of the sinner to him- 
self, that his need of this glorious Redeemer may be felt, and 



184 truth in love. [Ser. 

his salvation embraced : and accordingly the ' c mission of the 
Comforter/' is to " the world, convincing of sin, of righteous- 
ness, and of judgment." Without the Spirit, the sinner is 
blind, not only to the grace and glory of Jesus Christ, but to the 
fact of his own guilt and ruin : and would perish in eternal dark- 
ness, if this holy and blessed agent should withdraw his influ- 
ence. We may, therefore, say, in brief, that the sanctification 
of the believer, the preservation of the church, and the salva- 
tion of the world, depend immediately on the power of that 
Divine Spirit whom the glorified Saviour sheds forth on men. 

While, in our thoughts and doxologies, we adore the Father, 
and love the Son, we should with equal fervour of gratitude and 
affection, worship and bless the Spirit ! 

Our relations to him, under this last economy which is the 
prelude to heaven, are most peculiar. The "Father Al- 
mighty," is the " Invisible God," " whom no man hath seen, or 
can see. ' ' The Son, after a transient manifestation on earth, 
has returned to heaven, and is hid from view. The Spirit is 
given in his room; he is already given, and broods like an 
all-embracing atmosphere over the world. He "abideth for 
ever," and is not like a wayfaring man that tarrieth for a 
night. The relation we are placed in to the Spirit may be 
expressed by the attitude and act of the risen Saviour, when 
suddenly appearing in the midst of the apostles, he " breathed 
on them and said, Receive ye the Holy Ghost." 

Say not in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven, to bring 
the Spirit down ? He has already descended, and is pressing on 
every avenue that leads to the inner sanctuary of the soul, to 
enshrine himself there, the Spirit of light, and power, and holi- 
ness, and joy : and the command of the glorified Redeemer to 
each of us this day is — " Be filled with the Spirit," 



XL] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 185 

The freeness with which the Spirit is given, and the abundant 
measure in which his influences may be enjoyed, are points of 
instruction very clearly implied in the text, and of the deepest 
interest to us all. 

He is spoken of as a gift, and in the immediate context is 
compared to water, which, of all natural elements and temporal 
blessings, is one of the freest and most abundant. From "him 
that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, shall flow rivers 
of living water : but this spoke he of the Spirit of which they 
that believe on him should receive. ' ' Water is had for the asking, 
and our Father in heaven is infinitely willing to ' ' give the Holy 
Spirit to them that ask him. ' ' The dew that distils in silence 
while men sleep, and the rain that falls in copious showers, irri- 
gating the fields, swelling the streams, and purifying the air, are 
natural symbols of the absolute freeness, the overflowing ful- 
ness, and the beneficent effects of the Spirit's influences. Pre- 
dicting these "last days" of the Spirit's ministration, Jehovah 
declared by the mouth of Isaiah — "I will pour water on him 
that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. I will pour my 
Spirit on thy seed, and my blessing on thine offspring. And 
they shall spring up as among the grass, and as willows by the 
water courses." 

Freely given, acceptable to all, and fully adequate to every 
want of the individual, and the world, the Holy Ghost, in his 
Divine personality, his official character, and his special relation 
to men in this last earthly form of the kingdom of God, demands 
the peculiar and devout consideration of the church : and I pre- 
sent to you, my brethren, the doctrine of the Spirit, in hope, 
that we may attain to a better appreciation of our privilege, and 
that by coming into line in thought and action, with the plan of 

God, we may enjoy and improve the gift which is brought so near. 
16* 



186 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

A practical reflection, which naturally arises, is, that if Chris- 
tians and the church do not possess the Spirit in the plenitude 
of his sanctifying and comforting influences, it is because they 
place obstructions in the way of his entrance to their hearts. 

This is a necessary inference from the doctrine which we have 
enlarged upon and proved from Scripture, that the Spirit is al- 
ready given by the glorified Saviour, and is an abiding presence 
in the world. If the Spirit is not in our heart, it is not because 
God withholds him, but because we are not in sympathy with 
him. If there is no light in our dwellings when the sun is shin- 
ing in the heavens, it is because the windows are darkened and 
the doors are shut. Remove the obstructions, and his beams 
will fill every chamber. This which we draw as an inference 
from the Divine plan which assigns the Spirit to this last dis- 
pensation, is fully implied in a multitude of texts which exhibit 
our duties towards the Spirit. These nearly all imply his pre- 
sence, his readiness, his urgency. 

The exhortation not to resist him, implies that the hand of his 
gracious power is already laid upon us; the warning not to 
" grieve " him, imports that his loving embrace already enfolds 
us, and the command — " Quench not the Spirit," were mean- 
ingless, if the Divine spark were not already fanned by his holy 
breath. The precept that bids us u be filled with the Spirit," 
resembles a command to inhale full inspirations of vital air. 
"Receive ye the Holy Ghost, " is the Saviour's salutation to his 
people. If we have not the Spirit, in sanctifying and convert- 
ing power, it must be, because we obstruct his entrance to our 
souls, or drive him out by sin. Neglected duties, secret sins, un- 
holy passions, and conformity to the world, "quench the 
Spirit," and leave us in darkness and death, when the light of 
the Spirit is shining all around us, and whilst his quickening 



XL] THE DISPENSATION OF THE SPIRIT. 187 

power is brooding over a perishing world, as it brooded upon 
11 the face of the deep" at first. It is our sin not to have the 
Spirit. There is not the shadow of an excuse for it. I pray 
you, think of this longer than you sit in these seats. When you 
read your Bible, or kneel in your closet, or pray with your chil- 
dren, or walk the street, or transact your business, open your 
heart to the Spirit of God. ' ' Walk after the Spirit. " ' ' Walk 
in the Spirit. " " To be spiritually-minded is life and peace. ' ' 

If the stinted measure in which Christians and the church pos- 
sess the Spirit is to be referred to the hinderances which they in- 
terpose, the continued impenitence of sinners has the same expla- 
nation. It is not because God has denied, but because you have 
resisted the Spirit, that you are still unconverted, and without 
part or lot in his salvation. The Spirit has often reproved you 
of sin and warned you of danger. At times he has urged you 
strongly in the direction of duty and the cross. You trifled with 
the opportunity — you knew not the time of your visitation — you 
turned to folly, to business, to sin, and are now approaching 
death without pardon and preparation for heaven. I beseech 
you, sin no more against the Holy Ghost. He will ' ' not always 
strive. ' ' If you suffer him not to seal your soul to the day of 
redemption, you must be sealed unto the day of wrath. 



188 truth in love. [Ser. 



SERMON XII. 

THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 

Mark iv. 26-29. — And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as 
if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, 
and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow 
up, he hnoweth not how. For the earth bring eth forth fruit of 
herself, first the blade, then the ear, after that, the full corn in 
the ear. But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he 
putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come. 

It is in Scripture as in nature. When we look out on the 
material universe, some objects are so great, so prominent, so 
universally present, that none can overlook them. The earth, 
with its mountains and rivers, the sky, with its sun, moon, and 
stars, are as open to the view, and as familiar to the thoughts 
of children as of men, and, if not so well understood, yet as 
clearly seen by the unlettered peasant as by the erudite philoso- 
pher. What all thus see in nature, is, of course, most important 
to be seen : but we know it is little more than the mere surface 
of things, beneath which lie concealed ten thousand marvels of 
creative skill and power, which science in its endless progress 
brings to light. Analogous to this, there are in the Scriptures 
great doctrines and salient facts which rise like mountains on the 



XII. ] THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 189 

plain of revelation, so bold and obtrusive that the most inatten- 
tive reader cannot fail to observe, and, in some degree, compre- 
hend them: and beauties so obvious that it requires almost 
nothing beyond our natural taste and sensibility to discover and 
enjoy, Again, there are truths and beauties which disclose 
themselves only to the observant, the studious, the devout, 
but which, when discovered, are felt to be as real as those that 
are better known, and come to us with the added charm of a 
fresh acquisition. 

Of the truth of these remarks, we have thought this beautiful 
simile of the Saviour, which only Mark records, might afford an 
illustration. What it has in common with other parables is 
familiar : what is peculiar to itself, and is its chief lesson, may 
have specially arrested the attention of very few : and it is pos- 
sible that the general resemblance of its imagery to that in the 
parable of the sower, which in this gospel precedes, and to that 
of the " mustard-seed' ' which follows it, may have led, in a de- 
gree, to the oversight of the point in which it differs. With 
the seed and the field, the growing grain and the time of har- 
vest, and the incidental lessons which are clustered around the 
central law of vegetation, we are well acquainted. There is, 
perhaps, no natural fact which is made the image and vehicle 
of so many spiritual truths ; but it is possible that some — per- 
haps many of us — have not particularly studied, or clearly 
grasped the truth which the Saviour meant to convey when he 
represented the spiritual husbandman as leaving the seed to 
itself, after having cast it into the soil, and, free from anxiety, 
if not with carelessness concerning it, giving his attention to 
other matters. Certainly this is a phase of " the kingdom of 
God," which we are less in the habit of considering than some 
others : we do not say that it is more important, but would only 



190 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

suggest that it is necessary to the completeness of our views and 
the best development of our Christian experience. 

The passage under consideration presents three or four related 
truths to which we ask your attention, and first and chiefly to that 
just now adverted to. It gives character and form to the para- 
ble, and stands at its beginning. " So is the kingdom of God, 
as if a man should cast seed into the ground, and should sleep, 
and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, 
he knoweth not how, for the earth bringeth forth fruit of her- 
self." 

The rising night and day, if the expression stood alone, might 
be supposed to imply even an excess of anxious care for the seed 
which had been sown ; but in this connexion it plainly means 
the very opposite of this, and simply denotes the state of feel- 
ing and manner of life led by one who had discharged a piece of 
business — had done either all that was in his power, or all that 
the matter in hand required in order to its completion and suc- 
cess. The natural fact which gives us the expression of this 
spiritual and divine truth, affords a perfect illustration of its 
sense and its limitations. When a farmer has deposited his 
seed- wheat in a well-prepared field, his part and agency in the 
production of the crop is absolutely at an end. He can proceed 
no further, and there is nothing more for human power to do. 
He has come to the boundary which no man can pass over, on 
one side of which is the sphere of human 'labour, and on the 
other the sphere of Divine efficiency, If he chooses to put him- 
self about what belongs not to him, and forebode, as many do, 
excessive rains, parching droughts, and untimely frosts, he may 
do so, but he will not thereby hasten or retard the processes of 
nature, or change the course of things in the slightest degree, or 
in the least particular. The " taking thought' ' which our Lord 



XII. ] THE BLADE. THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 191 

declares cannot add one cubit to our stature, or make one hair 
white or black, is equally fruitless when expended on the seed 
which we have committed to the care of God, by casting it into 
the earth. A pious trust in a benignant Providence, and the 
ancient promise of summer and winter, seed-time and harvest, 
should relieve the husbandman of anxious care ; and, piety and 
providence out of the question, experience and common sense 
should teach him that his anxiety, however intense and torment- 
ing, does no good, and may well be dispensed with. Neverthe- 
less, it is important to mark the point up to which human labour 
and pains are of use, and of- such indispensable necessity that, in 
their absence, all the self-acting powers of the earth to which 
the parable refers, and the subtle agency of the invisible Grod, 
will never produce so much as a handful or a grain of wheat. 
The husbandman of the parable did not resign himself to ease, 
or go to other occupations, till he had c ' cast his seed into the 
ground. ' ' This implies more than it expresses. It suggests a 
careful preparation of the soil, to make it a fit receptacle of the 
seed, and shows that the part allotted to man in natural hus- 
bandry, though humble, is necessary, and in amount quite suf- 
ficient to occupy his time and exhaust his powers. 

The sense of the figure being thus plain and unmistakable, we 
inquire for its counterpart in the high realities of the spiritual 
world. And here we meet a question of vital importance to the 
interpretation of the parable. Is the man who casts the seed 
into the ground and leaves it the Lord Jesus Christ, or does this 
represent the ministers of the word, who publish his doctrines 
and become the instruments of salvation to their fellow-men? 
If we refer the language to Him, there is the difficulty of its at- 
tributing to him what seems unworthy of him ; — inattention 
and sleep, and even ignorance, which might appear to go beyond 



192 truth in love. [Ser. 

what is warranted by the fact of his having withdrawn from the 
world and ' ' gone into heaven, ' ' leaving his truth and his church 
to work their way on earth without his bodily presence. 

But the language need not be pressed in its literal breadth, 
and, all things considered, we incline to the view which regards 
Jesus himself as being, though not exclusively, yet primarily 
intended by the sower in this, as in the like parable of the tares 
in the field. 

This representation agrees also with that in the parables of 
the talents and of the pounds, which speak of him as going into 
a far country, and remaining away for a long time, leaving his 
servants meanwhile to act on their own responsibility, and in ac- 
cordance with their own free will. Applying this description to 
the actual facts of history and experience, it has a twofold veri- 
fication in the church and in the soul. Coming to the earth by 
his incarnation and visible ministry, Jesus planted the seed of 
his immortal and life-giving doctrine in the field of the world ; 
and then, as if in the assured confidence that the seed would 
grow, and yield a plentiful and glorious harvest, he returned to 
heaven to await with patience the maturing of the crop. That 
he gives no attention to the growing grain, and leaves it without 
the fostering care of his quickening Spirit, is certainly not true, 
and is not of necessity implied in the terms of the text : the 
thing intended is the fact of his personal and bodily absence, 
and the inherent life and certain growth of his truth and grace as 
a deposit in the church and in the world. In the conditions 
which surround it, the seed of evangelical truth is as sure to live, 
and grow, and fructify, as is the grain which the farmer sows in 
the alluvial soil of his well tilled fields. The vitality of seeds is 
wonderful. It is said that a grain of wheat which was found in 
the hand of an Egyptian mummy, where it had lain for perhaps 



XII. ] THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 193 

three thousand years, germinated, and according to the primeval 
law, brought forth seed after its kind. The word of God, planted 
in the field of humanity, is such a deathless germ. 

" Though it lie buried long in dust, 
It shan't deceive our hope." 

Scattered from a Divine hand, it shall be like the rain and the 
snow that come down from heaven and return not thither, but 
water the earth, making it bring forth and bud, that it may 
give seed to the sower and bread to the eater. 

The ordinance of the day and the night, and the law of the 
seasons, and the nature of all material things shall sooner change 
than this Divine seed shall return to the Giver of it void, or fail 
to prosper in the thing to which he sent it. The harvest of a 
regenerated world and of a glorified church is therefore certain. 
If we withdraw our view from the relations of Christ and his 
truth to the world, and regard his dealings with the individual 
heart, there is even here a sense in which, after the seed of a 
regenerate nature is given by the Saviour's first and special com- 
ing to convert the soul, he in a manner withdraws, and deals 
with it no more in this marvellous and powerful way, till it is 
ripe for the heavenly garner, when he comes the second time, 
and gathers the matured grain. The word of God, implanted 
by the Spirit and received by faith, is the seed of the new life in 
gracious souls. Once rooted in the spiritual nature, it never 
dies. Moral hinderances within and without, corresponding to 
drought, and cold, and shade, in the natural world, may retard 
its growth and impair its vigour, but it is a germ of immortality, 
breaking at length through all fetters, creeping forth to the sun- 
light of divine love, in which it delights, and yielding the fruit 
of perfect sanctification. " Immortal principles forbid the sons 



194 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

of G-od to sin." " He that is born of God sinneth not ; for his 
seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of 
God." 

The word of God is the seminal principle^ the divine germ 
from which the new life of the soul arises, and out of which 
1 ' the new creature in Christ Jesus is unfolded : ' ' and that is a 
beautiful commentary on this view of the text which we have 
from Peter, who describes the Christian as ' ' born not of cor- 
ruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which 
liveth and abideth for ever. ' ' When it takes root in the heart, 
its own immortality is the pledge of life eternal to the soul with 
which it is united, and such an interposition of Jesus Christ is 
never again required till the work of grace is done, and He who 
sowed the field returns to reap the grain. 

But we need not, and indeed cannot, with consistency, regard 
Christ as the exclusive sower of the seed. In the work of saving 
sinners and recovering the world to God, there are many things 
in which we can have no participation with Christ, and in refer- 
ence to which it may be said, that ' l of the people there was 
none with him. ' ' Such an exclusive Divine act was the atone- 
ment, and, in general, all that pertains to the mediation which 
reconciles men to God. 

In other respects, believers are taken into union and fellow- 
ship with Christ ; becoming members of a body of which he is the 
head, animated with his life, controlled by his Spirit, and co- 
working with him, as the instruments of his power, and the 
channels of his grace to the world. In a lower sphere, and in a 
limited sense, they do the same things that he doeth, becoming, 
through their prayers and labours, the instrumental saviours of 
those of whom he is the only and efficient Redeemer. If he above all 
others is the sower, who with effectual power sows the seed of 



XII. ] THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 195 

truth and grace in the heart, his inferior ministers and servants 
are sowers too, who scatter the precious seed of the word in the 
broad field of our lapsed humanity : and for these, there is a 
lesson of peculiar interest. It is aimed against one of our mis- 
takes, to call it by the softest name, and is designed to cultivate 
a grace which is alike honourable to God and promotive of our 
own happiness. The state of mind which it condemns, is a dis- 
trustful and anxious care about the results of our labour ; the 
feeling it describes and approves, is a peaceful and confident 
hope that the same God who in nature gives the increase, will 
in due time crown our labours with the success which is meet, 
and bring to maturity every work of grace which we are instru- 
mental in beginning. It requires a little discrimination to see 
precisely what it is which on the one side is condemned, and on 
the other is commended by the image of a man casting seed into 
the ground and dismissing it from his thoughts, and giving him- 
self with a light heart to other occupations. It does not dis- 
courage labour and pains, but is meant to confine them to their 
own sphere, and show how and where they are to be applied. 

We stand in no sort of need of being warned against excessive 
industry in seeking a spiritual harvest, or against having too 
eager and longing desires for the success of our efforts in the con- 
version of souls. Our "danger lies all in the other direction. 
Both as it respects labours and desires, we constantly fall very 
far below the measure of our duty and opportunities, and there 
is nothing here or elsewhere in Scripture, which is calculated to 
restrain our exertions or lessen our ardour. We cannot possibly 
do too much in the wise and prudent use of means and en- 
deavours to bring men to the knowledge of salvation. As in 
natural husbandry, the more pains that are taken to prepare the 
soil and put it in the best condition, the greater the prospect for 



196 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

an abundant yield of choice grain, so it is in the department of 
our spiritual toil. 

In these preliminary acts, and in this humble sphere of feeble 
instrumentality, we can neither do nor feel too much, and the 
assurance that he shall come again, bringing his sheaves with 
him, is given only to him that goeth forth and ' ' weepeth, bear- 
ing precious seed. ' ' But having done this, our duty ceases with 
our power. Duty is ours; events are God's. Having ex- 
hausted our strength and pains on means and labours, it is both 
our duty and our privilege to commit the case to the Lord, in 
cheerful hope that the result will in its season appear, and be 
such as will redound to the glory of God, and our own happiness 
and reward. This is not indifference about the result, not car- 
ing whether it come soon or come at all, neither is it inconsistent 
with prayer that it may be both speedy and glorious, but the 
precise thing it bids us put away is an unbelieving and useless 
anxiety about the result of our labours ; a carefulness which 
springs from the want of perfect confidence in the promises and 
gracious designs of God, and only makes us uneasy and unhappy, 
without furthering, in the remotest manner or slightest degree, 
the object on which it is vainly spent. 

And this suggests a principal reason for cultivating the believ- 
ing, hopeful, happy temper, and frame of mind which the para- 
ble recommends. Corroding care even for spiritual results 
renders us miserable, and does no good. Therefore, let it be 
dismissed, and let the apostolic exhortation which bids us " be 
careful for nothing," be followed in its widest scope, and in all 
its applications. But the greatest reason of all is, that a confi- 
dent and joyful hope in those who sow the divine seed of God's 
word by their sanctified labours, honours and pleases him, and 
thus silently tends to secure the blessings which unbelieving 



XII. ] THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 197 

fears and forebodings hinder rather than help. Those whose 
toils in the work of human salvation God has most largely blest, 
have commonly been not only men of abundant labours, but of 
strong faith and cheerful hope : men who believed that God 
would do as he said, and that the gospel was verily the power 
of God unto salvation. Faith, and hope, and patience are as 
vitally related to the harvest of redeemed souls as are the pains 
and efforts of spiritual industry. " Behold, the husbandman 
waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long pa- 
tience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.' , "Be 
ye also patient : stablish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord 
draweth nigh. ' ' Doing our part, we may rest assured that God 
will do his. ' c The earth bringeth forth fruit of herself, ' ' when 
once the seed has been cast into her bosom, and just so soon as 
any word of truth has been uttered, or spiritual service has been 
rendered, or holy influence has gone forth from us, it passes into 
the region over which God presides, and is taken under his care, 
and combined with the invisible and mighty agencies of his pro- 
vidence and Holy Spirit ! 

In the moral world there is, under the mediation of Jesus 
Christ, a "good ground" and a prepared soil, into which, when 
the seed of the word is cast, it brings forth fruit of itself, with- 
out human care, and under conditions which the grace of God 
has ordained. God's efficient care dispenses with our fruitless 
anxieties, and lays a good foundation for peaceful trust and pa- 
tient waiting. 

It is possible that some of you may be tempted to regard this 

frame of mind, now brought forward in the light of a virtue and 

grace, as of suspicious and doubtful character : and it must be 

acknowledged that it bears a superficial resemblance to a state 

of feeling which meets unqualified disapprobation in the Scrip- 
17* 



198 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

tures: nevertheless, the difference is as wide as the poles be- 
tween the Laodicean indifference which does nothing, as well as 
cares for nothing, and the quietness and rest of those who, hav- 
ing done their duty, look with confidence for the promised bless- 
ing. And just here, it is in place to note the fact that a right 
dividing of the Divine word does not give the same truth to all 
persons. There is milk for babes, and strong meat for men, and 
a portion in due season for every phase of character, and for 
every condition of religious experience. And it is easy to see 
that the peculiar form of truth on which we have been dwelling, 
is not needed by a certain class of persons, and perhaps we ought, 
in truth, to say a certain class of Christians. 

Individuals who are "at ease in Zion," neither feeling anx- 
ious about results, nor expending labour and pains on the in- 
strumentalities which are designed to build up the kingdom of 
Gi-od and to save the souls of men, are certainly not in danger of 
running into an excess of anxiety, and need no caution against 
it. They would only be injured by the thought ; and if such 
are here, I forewarn them that this part of Scripture truth is not 
for them. But to such as are labouring hard in the Lord's field, 
and ardently longing for the visible fruits of their toil, and yet 
are laying upon their souls a burden of care, which the Divine 
Husbandman himself has been pleased to assume, the lesson is 
neither dangerous nor useless, but altogether salutary and bene- 
ficial. 

Relieved of distracting and distressing anxieties, we are en- 
abled to pursue the labour which belongs to us with a lighter 
heart, doing it in larger measure and with greater efficiency. 

In seeking to unfold and illustrate this, the principal and 
characteristic lesson of the parable, we have left but little space 
for noticing its subordinate teachings, which are yet of much 



XII.] THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 109 

importance. Two or three points may be touched in a few 
words. 

1. In saying that the seed groweth up we "know not how," 
the mysterious nature and working of grace is hinted at. It is 
not regulated by natural laws, though they afford many illustra- 
tive analogies. It cannot be reduced to a science, like agricul- 
ture or mechanics. There is no philosophy of the Holy Ghost. 
Regeneration is not the result of any forces which human reason 
defines and gauges, much less controls : and the divine life which 
is breathed into the soul by the mysterious visitation of the 
Spirit, blowing like the wind, of which we cannot tell whence it 
cometh and whither it goeth, is afterwards maintained by super- 
natural supplies from the same invisible source, and is "hid 
with Christ in God." The processes and the instrumentali- 
ties by which it is advanced, are often such as reason would 
reject ; and the subject of grace himself murmurs at and ac- 
counts them, at first, instruments of destruction, rather than of 
edification. And the very experiences which mark the Chris- 
tian's forward movement are oftentimes to himself the most 
painful mysteries, viewed rather as evidences of backsliding, 
than as victorious struggles with corruption, or temporary de- 
feats, which are necessary to prepare him for a final triumph. 

In retrospect, the way that God has led us is very wonderful, 
and the secret history of the heart is not less marvellous than 
the events and the course of the outward journey. As the seed 
grows secretly, and no science can explain the mystery of vege- 
table life, so the life of God in the soul of man — the growth of 
that immortal seed of truth and grace which the Spirit plants — 
is a mystery which eludes all rational criticism, and is to be ac- 
cepted simply as a truth of revelation, and as a fact of expe- 
rience. 



200 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

Asserting its mysteriousness, the imagery of the text gives us 
a beautiful expression of its progress, through successive stages, 
to its destined maturity : — " First the blade, then the ear, after 
that, the full corn in the ear. ' ' In the wondrous transformation 
of the soul thus typified, there is, in the very beginning of it, a 
secret process hid from mortal observation, resembling that 
swelling and germinating of the seed beneath the surface of the 
ground ; anxious thoughts, deep convictions, and silent prayers, 
which precede and accompany the birth of the soul, into the 
kingdom of heaven, and, for a time, a shrinking disposition 
which conceals the new and strange experience. When the 
crisis is past, and the soul emerges into the light and joy of for- 
giveness and the hope of salvation, religion becomes more posi- 
tive and outspoken, and the tender " blade' ' of the new life 
appears. It is joy, and peace, and love, delight in the ordi- 
nances of Divine worship, and the communion of saints. Or, 
under another figure which the Scriptures use to describe the 
same thing, it is the simplicity and confidence, and docility and 
new-born joys of childhood introduced into a world of novelty 
and beauty, and glory. 

By insensible and slow degrees, this incipient condition of 
grace advances, till the simple and tender " blade " assumes the 
rounded development of the "ear," or head of grain, which 
may stand for the outline of a definite Christian character. It 
is strength, and stature, and symmetry added to the joyous ex- 
periences of the soul's "earliest love:" and while there may be 
less of sensible delight, there is more of the substantial and en- 
during qualities of Christian character. The advancement mea- 
sured by the difference between the blade and the ear, is just the 
process indicated by the apostle, of "adding" to the "faith" 
which first embraced Jesus Christ for salvation, the graces of 



XII.] THE BLADE, THE EAR, AND THE FULL CORN. 201 

"virtue, knowledge, godliness, charity," and all the rest which 
form and beautify the Christian life. And as in nature there 
is a progress beyond the formation of the ear, to the ' ' full corn 
in the ear," so in the growth of grace, there is a mellow ripe- 
ness of piety observable in many Christians, which rests like a 
crown of beauty on their heads. It is not so much the glow of 
the heart's first love which marks the infancy of grace, or the vigor- 
ous activities which characterize the zeal of its manhood, as it 
is a deeper acquaintance with God and with ourselves : inspir- 
ing profound humility, patience in tribulations, deadness to the 
world, and more of charity in our judgments. It is the case of 
those who being c ' planted in the house of the Lord, are fat and 
flourishing, still bringing forth fruit in old age." 

The uses of this feature of a gracious life are two. It should 
teach us not to ' ' despise the day of small things, ' ' in others or 
in ourselves; and, it should incite us to unwearied struggles 
after higher Christian attainments. The modest little blade 
which presses up through the parting earth, is not the ear nor 
the full corn in the ear, but it is that from which they grow, and 
without which they could never be. 

Have charity and patience for these faint uprisings of grace 
in others ; tread them not rudely down, but cherish them as 
buds of promise and germs of salvation : and if you find nothing 
more in yourself, destroy them not by unbelief, despondency, or 
neglect. Yet be not satisfied therewith. " Go on to perfection. ' ' 
Court the sunshine, inhale the air, drink in the rain of heavenly 
visitation : and shrink not from the chilling blasts and beating 
storms which ' c root and ground ' ' the soul in the knowledge 
and love of God. By slow and sure advances, you will thus 
reach the maturity which Christ has appointed for you, and then 
will come another crisis of surpassing interest. He who sows 



202 truth in love. [Ser. 

the seed and waits for its growth and ripeness, does not leave 
the grain to perish where it grew. But ' ' when the fruit is 
brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because 
the harvest is come. ' ' It is transferred from the field to the 
granary ! By this pleasing image, the Saviour describes an event 
from which nature recoils. 

As it is no damage to the grain to reap it, and gather it into 
the barn, but only that which takes place in the course of na- 
ture ; so to the Christian, in whom the ripe fruits of grace are 
produced, it does no harm, but only completes and secures for 
ever the work of his redemption. ' ' 

The " Reaper who in our gardens gathers flowers, transplants 
them in the Paradise above, and the sickle which so rudely cuts 
the yellow grain of ripened piety, gathers it to its predestined 
place under brighter skies, and starts it upon a new and higher 
development to which eternity sets no bounds. ' ' 

Why then should the children of the kingdom be afraid of 
death ? Unnatural to us as creatures, and infinitely to be feared 
by unpardoned sinners, it is the appointed and desired issue of 
our course as Christians. 

It is but a removal — a transplantation — a saying to those who 
occupy the lowest room, u Come up higher." "For the believer 
who comes to his grave in a full age, like as a shock of corn 
cometh in his season," there is no reason to weep : and, if in 
ourselves, the inward man is renewed day by day, we need not 
lament the decay of our natural faculties. It predicts a glory 
soon to dawn. 



XIII. 1 god's witnesses. 203 



SERMON XIII. 

GOD'S WITNESSES. 

Isa. xliii. 10. — Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord. 

All creatures that God has made, and all the operations of 
his hands, are his ' ' witnesses. ' ' In different forms and varying 
degrees, they testify somewhat concerning the invisible God, 
whom no man hath seen or can see. The sun, the moon, the 
stars, bear witness to "the Father of lights," who kindled these 
celestial lamps, and hung them out in the visible heavens as the 
symbols of himself. 

All that has been given to them they impart, declaring the 
"eternal power and Godhead" of Him who dwells above them 
in the insufferable light of the ' ' third heavens. ' ' And not these 
mighty orbs alone, but all creatures, down to the blade of grass 
and the lily, which divine art has painted, fulfil the same great 
office. Whatever of divinity is impressed upon them, that they 
show to all beholders, and thus render the tribute of their testi- 
mony to Him who u made them all." And not the creatures in 
themselves, but their order, their relations one to another, and 
their movements, — in a word, Providence, as well as Creation, — 
brings its offering of testimony to the Being and Character of 
Him who rules the worlds. 

Even in the absence of a direct and verbal revelation, "He 



204 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

hath not left himself without witness, in that he giveth us rain 
from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food 
and gladness. ' ' 

And while all outward and material things give concurrent 
evidence of His existence, power, wisdom, and goodness, a testi- 
mony comes up from the depths of the human soul to his charac- 
ter as a moral Governor, the lover of righteousness, and the 
avenger of sin. "When the (heathen), which have not the law, 
do by nature the things contained in the law, these having not 
the law are a law unto themselves, who show the work of the 
law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, 
and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one 
another. ' ' 

The testimony which is obtained in these different forms from 
nature, is fundamentally important : without it there could be 
no religion ; yet it alone is not sufficient to lead men to the sav- 
ing knowledge of God. The testimony is true, but it is not ade- 
quate. 

Neither creation, nor providence, nor conscience, nor all of 
them together, make known the whole character of God. The 
view presented is correct as far as it goes, but it is partial and 
incomplete ; and being taken from the stand-point of sinners, it 
is obscured and distorted by the blindness of their hearts. If, 
therefore, it is the will and pleasure of God that men should 
come to the true and saving knowledge of himself, — as from the 
very perfection of his character we are warranted to believe, — a 
further testimony is necessary. He gives it in the revelations 
of his word, wherein all things which pertain to life and godli- 
ness are sufficiently made known ; and above all, in the mission 
and ministry of his Son, whose coming and kingdom, Messiah- 
ship and Godhead, were ■ ! witnessed beforehand by the law and 



XIII. ] god's witnesses. 205 

the prophets, ' ' and at the time of his appearing were attested 
by signs in heaven and wonders on earth. To prepare his way 
and point him out, was the peculiar office of John the Baptist, 
of whom it is said that he e ' came for a witness, to bear witness 
of the light, that all men through him might believe. ' ' 

Of himself, Jesus declared — "To this end was I born, and 
for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness 
unto the truth. ' ' 

After he had accomplished the work which his Father 
gave him to do, and had returned to his glory, "the word" 
which had begun to be spoken by ' ' the Lord' ' was ' ' confirmed 
unto men by them that heard him, God also bearing them wit- 
ness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles and 
gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will. ' ' 

In view of all this, it might seem reasonable to ask — " Is not 
the gospel sufficiently attested? What further need have we of 
witnesses?" 

The gospel and its Divine Author have already received greater 
witness than that of men, and as when Jesus was on earth, so now 
there is a sense in which he c ' receives not testimony from man. ' ' 
His own mighty deeds were the credentials which accredited him 
as God's ambassador to the world, and now it is his own omni- 
potent grace that c ' confirms the word with signs following' ' its 
ministration in souls redeemed from iniquity. Without this di- 
rect testimony of Jesus to his own gospel, it would quickly van- 
ish from the faith of the world. 

But this, so far from displacing and rendering all inferior tes- 
timony needless, prepares the way for it — in fact, creates it : and 
he now says to his church, and to every company of believers — 
"Ye are my witnesses." It is a position of the highest honour 

and most solemn responsibility. Witnesses for God, his charac- 

18 



206 truth IN love. [Ser. 

ter, his honour, and the interests of his kingdom on earth, de- 
pend on the testimony we bear. The image of the text repre- 
sents him as in some sort on trial before the jury of an unbe- 
lieving world. 

In civil courts the verdict turns on the testimony rendered, 
and when the property or reputation, the liberty or life of a fel- 
low-citizen is imperilled, every one who is possessed either of 
honour or conscience, feels deeply the solemnities of an oath, 
and weighs well the testimony he utters. The judgment which 
the world pronounces on the gospel, the cause, and the salva- 
tion of Jesus Christ, has a very intimate dependence on the tes- 
timony borne concerning it by the professed friends and followers 
of Christ. They are the only living and visible witnesses he has 
in the world. I do not say that any testimony they can bear, 
will certainly carry conviction to the minds of all men. A per- 
son who enters the jury-box with a rooted prejudice, or a dis- 
honest purpose, wiir not be convinced by any amount of evidence 
which may be submitted. There were men who with the cha- 
racter and life, the doctrine and miracles of Jesus full in view, 
did not believe on him. They had prejudged his claims, and 
their hatred of his doctrines blinded them to the clear proofs of 
his divinity. None are so blind as those who will not see, nor 
so skeptical as those who are unwilling to believe. We are 
therefore, not to conclude that the unbelief of the world results 
entirely from the defectiveness of the church's and the Chris- 
tian's testimony — much less, that it is thereby justified. 

But though conviction may not be forced, nor effectually se- 
cured in all cases, it is certain that the testimony which profess- 
ing Christians bear to Christ and his gospel, is closely and vitally 
connected with the success of his cause and the salvation of men. 

I. And we may assume as a first and fundamental position, that 



XIII. ] god's witnesses. 207 

it is needed. It requires no proof that the world around us re- 
mains in unbelief, and turns with indifference or scorn from the 
overtures of the gospel. Unbelievers are in much the same 
case as those idolaters whom the prophet describes in the con- 
text : ' ' Blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have 
ears." They are rational, intelligent, accountable, and in every 
other direction employ their faculties as reasonable creatures 
might be expected to do. They desire knowledge, they go in 
quest of light, they put themselves to expense and pains, to ac- 
quire information which may be turned to account in forwarding 
their temporal interests. 

If they felt and acted in the same way with respect to religion, 
the necessity for the personal testimony of Christians would not 
be so urgent as it is. They might find everything which they 
need to know, fully and clearly stated in the Scriptures ; they 
might, if they would, hear the doctrines of salvation proclaimed 
and expounded in the sanctuary. They might see in the life of 
Jesus the faultless model of that character which it is their duty 
to copy. 

In this manner, a far more complete and perfect exhibition of 
Divine truth might be obtained than it is possible to get from 
the character and life even of those who most closely copy those 
of Christ, and afford the fullest exemplification of the gospel 
precepts, in their walk and conversation. But there are many 
who use none of these means of acquainting themselves with the 
truth. For strong, but very bad reasons, they "come not to 
the light." If they are ever to behold it, it must be carried to 
them. The only Bible they read is that which is printed in the 
character and conduct of those Christians with whom the inter- 
course and business of life bring them into contact. And even 
in the case of those who are in the habit of reading the Scrip- 



208 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

tures, and frequenting the house of God, the superadded testi- 
mony of Christ's living witnesses is greatly needed. If not 
required to impart knowledge — and much less to give revelations 
additional to those contained in the Scriptures, it is greatly ne- 
cessary for the purpose of arresting attention, and producing 
conviction, and for this, it is, as we may see, admirably adapted. 
The tendency and purpose of testimony is to produce belief and 
conviction, and the Christian, as a witness for God, is like the 
books of a circulating library which pass from hand to hand, and 
house to house. So far as he bears the image and breathes the 
spirit of his divine Master, he is a " living epistle known and 
read of all men. ' ' In the absence of Jesus, he represents him. 
Since those lips which once spoke on earth have become silent, 
he speaks for him, though it be with a stammering tongue ; and 
though the light in which he shines is a borrowed radiance, and 
but a dim reflection of the Sun of righteousness, he stands 
forth amid surrounding darkness, holding up the taper of his 
testimony for a Saviour whom men neglect or revile. It is be- 
cause of this relationship to Christ as witnesses for him, that the 
same things are affirmed of him and of his followers. 

Speaking of himself, and directing benighted sinners to the 
true source of salvation, we hear him say, "lam the light of 
the world : ' ' addressing his disciples, and teaching them at once, 
the height of their privileges and their obligations, he says, — 
" Ye are the light of the world.' ' He is the source ; they the 
reflectors of light. He the sun, they the moons of the system, 
and as the moon shines most brilliantly and fulfils the purpose 
for which it was " ordained," when the sun is absent, so these 
upon whom the light of their departed Lord yet lingers, illumi- 
nate the night of the world. 

Considering the attitude which unbelieving men occupy to- 



XIIL] god's witnesses. 209 

ward Christ as lie is revealed in the Scriptures, and held forth 
in the ordinances of his church, it is evident that there is not 
only room for the peculiar instrumentality referred to in the 
text, but that there is an imperative necessity demanding it. 
The economy of salvation involves it as a prominent feature. 

II. Its adaptation to the end in view will appear from con- 
sidering, in the second place, the qualifications of believers 
to be witnesses for God. The character and position ascribed 
to them take for granted that they know something concerning 
God which others do not know, or at least which they do not 
believe or duly consider : and further, that what they know of 
God may be certified to others by their testimony. Our mental 
constitution and experience lead us to rely on testimony, and the 
most of all that we know or believe is taken upon the report and 
authority of others. The sphere of our personal knowledge, ex- 
perience, and investigation, is very limited, and the sum of our 
information would be small indeed, if nothing were admitted or 
received beyond what falls within the range of our own immedi- 
ate cognizance. But if we accept what others know and testify, 
the field of our knowledge is immensely enlarged : and this we 
do in reference to every department of human science, and every 
interest of man. 

Testimony holds an important place in religion. Not to be- 
lieve any testimony, is more preposterous and absurd than the 
simple credulity which u believeth every word." In weighing 
the testimony of witnesses, we inquire, in the first place, into 
their integrity and veracity, and at the threshold decide the 
question of their credibility. Are they worthy of belief? If 
there is good reason to question their truthfulness, we do not 
give them credit, however positive and explicit their statements. 

Subjected to this criterion, are Christians credible witnesses 
18* 



210 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

when they speak on God's behalf? All that is necessary to en- 
title them to credit, is that they should be as truthful as other 
men are— persons whose word would be unhesitatingly believed 
if they gave testimony before an earthly tribunal. That, as a 
class, the people of God are such, is a point which does not re- 
quire argument. Even the world relies upon a person's Chris- 
tian profession as a guaranty for his veracity — such is the result 
of experience and observation. It is not, therefore, pretended 
that Christians are unworthy of confidence when they give testi- 
mony in behalf of the religion they profess, and of the God 
whom they serve. The attack is made, not upon their credibility, 
but their competency as witnesses. It is admitted that they 
mean to speak the truth, and that they think they are doing so ; 
but then, it is urged, they are ignorant, mistaken, deluded ; and 
hence, notwithstanding their honesty of intention, their testi- 
mony cannot be relied on. This method of neutralizing its power 
is by far the most plausible which the world and infidelity em- 
ploy ; yet a little consideration is sufficient, as I think, to show 
that the objection is without validity. 

Consider what it is that renders any person a competent wit- 
ness. It is not his general information, nor his learning, nor 
the extent of his experience. These may, in particular cases, 
add something to the strength of his statements, but the validity 
of testimony does not rest on any such foundation. The most 
illiterate person in the community, a youth, a child even, may 
bear witness to a fact which has fallen under his own observa- 
tion, and prove it with the same irresistible conviction in the 
minds of others, as if it were sworn to by the most learned judges 
who preside in our courts. Whether a Christian be gifted with 
much or little of mental power and cultivation, he is perfectly 
competent to testify to that which has fallen within the range 



XIIT.] god's witnesses. 211 

of his own observation and experience. If other men declare 
that they have never had any such experience, this is mere ne- 
gative testimony, and is of no more importance than that of a 
hundred witnesses who were not present when an event hap- 
pened, or an action was performed, if brought to discredit the 
evidence of one man who was present and did see it. 

Consider also what it is to which the people of God give tes- 
timony, and their competency as witnesses will be still further 
apparent. It is not to the truth of an opinion, nor to the cor- 
rectness of an argument, nor, in general, to the Divine origin of 
the Christian religion, nor yet to the fact that the Bible is the 
word of God. This they assuredly believe, and confidently af- 
firm ; and, as logical deductions from what they do testify, these 
propositions may follow as necessary consequences ; but it is freely 
conceded that Christians are not competent to prove, by direct 
testimony, the abstract truth of the gospel :■ that it is not an ob- 
ject of their immediate knowledge and experience. 

Witnesses are not called to prove the correctness of opinions 
and the truth of doctrines, but the state of facts. And Chris- 
tians, as the witnesses of God, certify nothing but the facts 
of their own knowledge and experience. This is distinctly 
indicated in the words which follow the text as the sub- 
ject-matter of their testimony: "Ye are my witnesses, saith 
the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen, that ye may 
know and believe me, and understand that I am he. " "I have 
declared, and have saved, and I have showed when there was 
no strange god among you ; therefore ye are my witnesses, saith 
the Lord, that I am God. " The dealings of God with their own 
souls is the matter of fact to which believers witness : and who 
can say, with any show of reason, that they are incompetent to 
prove a thing of this nature ? That a man is possessed of cer- 



212 truth in love. [Ser. 

tain views, feelings, and principles of action, is just as suscepti- 
ble of proof by his own testimony, as are the outward doings of 
his life. Apply this principle to the great fundamental fact of 
Christian experience, and one of the greatest stumbling-blocks 
to an unbelieving world — the fact of the soul's regeneration by 
the Spirit of Grod. Is it not of such a nature that it may be 
proved by testimony? And is not the person who has experi- 
enced it a competent witness? He knows, by infallible evidences 
in his own heart, that, in a moral and spiritual view, he is not 
the man he once was. In the time past of his life, as he re- 
members well, he lived ''without God in the world" — he re- 
strained prayer — he sought his chief joy in gratifying "the lust 
of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life," and had 
no sort of relish, but, on the contrary, an unconquerable aver- 
sion for all spiritual pleasures and employments. Now, all this 
is changed. He not only leads a different life, but is conscious 
of different affections, motives, and sources of enjoyment. 
4 ' Old things are passed away : behold, all things are become 
new. ' ' 

Spiritually, u he is a new creature:" of this fact there is no 
doubt : but a question remains. How has the change been ef- 
fected ? Is he as certain that it has been wrought by the Spirit 
of God, as he is of its being wrought at all ? He did not see 
this Divine Agent descending upon him, nor consciously feel the 
hand of omnipotent grace laid on his heart. It is admitted, 
the author of regeneration is invisible, and his action on the 
soul, mysterious. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and 
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it 
cometh, and whither it goeth : so is every one that is born of 
the Spirit." 

How then can the converted sinner be assured that his heart 



XIII. ] god's witnesses. 213 

has been the subject of a supernatural, Divine influence ? He 
knows it from the nature of the effect wrought upon him. Its 
greatness proves that it sprang from a power immeasurably 
above his own, and its spirituality and holiness connect it im- 
mediately with the c c Father of lights, from whom cometh every 
good gift, and every perfect gift." 

He is profoundly conscious that the natural bias of his heart 
was not in the direction of such a change ; so far from this, he 
remembers well that he positively repelled the outward agencies 
and inward convictions which looked toward it, and is deeply 
persuaded that if he had had his own way, he never would have 
been different from what he was by nature, a child of " disobe- 
dience and of wrath." He is therefore just as certain that God 
is the author of the change, as that the change has taken place. 
Having c c the witness in himself, ' ' both of its reality and divinity, 
he is competent to bear witness of it to others. 

This testimony is indefinitely strengthened by the multitude 
of those who unite in it. In every age, thousands and millions 
have uttered it, and all around us are those who testify that God 
has renewed their hearts. 

If in the mouth of two or three witnesses, every word shall be 
established, much more shall this great fact of regeneration by 
the Spirit of God be confirmed by the consenting testimony of 
millions. And when proved, it draws along with it the whole 
of Christianity. The chain of gospel doctrine and of God's re- 
demptive purposes, which extends from a past to a coming eter- 
nity, at this point comes into direct and sensible contact with 
men, and fastens one of its golden links in the experience of 
every regenerate soul. The link draws after it the chain, and 
grasping this, we make sure of all. Or, stating the argument 
in the fewest and simplest words, — if regeneration is a fact, the 



214 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

gospel is true. Though the Christian, therefore, is not compe- 
tent to bear witness to the truth of the Christian religion, he is 
in every way competent to prove a fact on the existence of which 
the truth of that religion hinges. 

Another point in reference to which the testimony of Chris- 
tian experience is peculiarly clear and strong, and the unbelief 
of the world is peculiarly stubborn, is the fact of God's hearing 
prayer, and faithfully fulfilling his promises to those who call 
upon him. Like the former, it is obviously a fact — if sufficiently 
proved — of vital connexion with the whole doctrinal system of 
the gospel. If it is a fact that God hears prayer, then all that 
the Scriptures teach respecting the mercy-seat, the throne of 
grace, the sacrifice and intercession of Jesus Christ, is true doc- 
trine. Can the fact then, be established, without quoting proof- 
texts from the Scriptures, and upon the ground of human testi- 
mony? On this subject there is an accumulation of proofs — a 
mass of testimony — recorded not only in the pages of the Bible, 
but in volumes of religious biography, and witnessed by living 
men, which, if brought to bear upon the determination of any 
other question of fact, would settle it for ever, beyond the pos- 
sibility of cavil or doubt. 

By a wider induction of individual facts and experiences than 
was ever brought to prove a natural law or a scientific principle, 
it is established that Jehovah is a prayer-hearing and a prayer- 
answering God. Thousands of the best men on earth not only 
believe but testify that their own prayers have been answered. 
The previous prayer and the subsequent blessing stand in such 
a marked relation, the one to the other, that they recognize the 
latter as God's answer to the former, and devoutly cry with the 
Psalmist — " I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice 
and my supplications." 



XIII. ] god's witnesses. 215 

Other applications of the principle under review might be 
made, but time does not allow, and our purpose does not require 
it. These are sufficient to show that believers are both credible 
and competent "witnesses" for God, establishing by their tes- 
timony facts of Christian experience and life which draw after 
them, by inevitable sequence, the whole system of revealed 
truth. 

III. When God, by the mouth of the prophet, said to Israel 
— " Ye are my witnesses," it seemed to be his purpose to sum- 
mon them to the performance of the function implied in the 
character : and we may now bestow a brief consideration on the 
forms in which this duty may be most effectually discharged. 

To the first place among these must be assigned, as I imagine, 
the silent testimony of a holy life. This is by far the most 
convincing, A regenerated and holy man sustains the same 
relation to the grace of God which the material universe 
sustains to his power, and wisdom, and skill. The world wit- 
nesses to its Creator, and in like manner the saved sinner wit- 
nesses to his Redeemer. He is a piece of Divine workmanship 
— a ' ' new creation in Christ Jesus. ' ' He is more : he is such a 
visible image of the invisible God. that men "take knowledge 
of him" as bearing the similitude of the heavenly and divine, 
and like the primitive Christians, in the case of the converted 
Saul, " they glorify God in him." Such is the nature of this 
silent testimony. The degree of its power depends on the 
clearness and completeness with which the Divine likeness is 
delineated on the heart, and held forth in the life. Some por- 
traits are such exact copies, as to be immediately recognized by 
those who have seen the original. Some Christians are such 
miniature images of Him who hath renewed them after his own 
likeness. In others, the images of the earthly and the heavenly 



216 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

are so blended, that it is difficult to decide which predominates ; 
and the effect on our minds resembles that produced by dis- 
crepancies and contradictions in the testimony of a witness. Its 
power is neutralized by its inconsistency. 

And as one ascertained falsehood casts suspicion on all the 
evidence that is rendered, and prevents even that portion of it 
which may be true from gaining credit, so with regard to the 
testimony we bear on behalf of God. Our faults and follies are 
not judged of by themselves, and referred to the unsubdued cor- 
ruption of the heart : but they are allowed to vitiate the virtue 
and piety with which they are connected, and they do, in fact, 
throw a cloud over all the better aspects of our character. 

In my opinion, there are few subjects which Christians have 
more need to ponder with devout and faithful self-examination 
than the question, how far their testimony for God is nullified 
by the blemishes of their character, and by the practical contra- 
dictions of their life. It is probable that none of us is aware 
how much we do ourselves to destroy our influence. We see 
the faults of others, and are blind to our own. With a zeal not 
according to knowledge, we set ourselves to pull the mote 
out of a brother's eye, unconscious of the beam that fills our 
own. While labouring under such a hallucination as this, we are 
but sorry witnesses for God. Let us all, my brethren, cultivate the 
habit of looking at home — of practising severity in the judgment 
of ourselves, and charity in judging others — and let us make it our 
daily study to bear a uniform and consistent testimony to that gos- 
pel which we profess. A man who breathes a Christian spirit, and 
exhibits a Christian deportment ; who lives and moves in the at- 
mosphere of that charity which ' ' thinketh no evil, seeketh not her 
own, and is not puffed up" — whose animating principle is that 
"wisdom that cometh from above, and is first pure, then peace- 



XIII. ] god's witnesses. • 217 

able, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, 
without partiality, and without hypocrisy," — such a man bears 
a testimony to the gospel and grace of God, which the world can 
neither "gainsay nor resist." Such a character is just as evi- 
dently the fruit of Divine grace, as the light that shines around 
us is an emanation from the sun. Light is self-revealing. It 
needs no one to bear witness to its existence and its nature. We 
open our eyes and behold it. In like manner, holiness in the 
characters and lives of men is a beam from the • c Father of 
lights : " its divinity is self-revealing : and the more brightly it 
shines, the more convincing is the witness it gives to the being 
and character of God. By the appointment of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and in the degree of their actual sanctification, believers 
are " the light of the world." Having announced the fact and 
the doctrine, Jesus turned it into an exhortation ; and what he 
said to the disciples, I now address to you : ' ' Let your light so 
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glo- 
rify your Father which is in heaven. ' ' 

That passage from the sermon on the mount exhibits com- 
pletely the argument we are considering. Personal holiness — 
the " good works" of Christ's disciples — are the effect of Divine 
grace, and are so recognized by those who observe them, and 
their natural tendency is to lead men to "glorify God." If, 
through the obstinacy and blindness of unbelief, this result should 
not be in fact produced, they may at least ' ' stop the mouths of 
gainsayers," and "put to silence the ignorance of foolish men." 

While this silent testimony of a blameless life is by far the 
most efficacious form of witness-bearing on God's behalf, it is 
not the only method. 

A holy life will secure attention and credit for any verbal tes- 
timony we may have opportunity and strength to utter. The 
19 



218 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

power of words depends largely on the known character of the 
man who speaks them. An unchristian life neutralizes com- 
pletely the most pious exhortations. But u how forcible are 
right words" when " spoken in season," and proceeding from 
one whose character and life assure you that they come forth 
from the heart, and are uttered in deep sincerity. 

Live so, that you may be able consistently, and without a 
blush, to speak for God : and when occasion offers open your 
lips, and c ' declare what the Lord hath done for your soul. ' ' 

Be not i ' ashamed of the gospel of Christ. " Be a firm and 
fearless witness for him who loved you and gave himself for you, 
and he may put on you the honour of i l converting ' ' sinners from 
4 'the error of their ways, and of saving souls from death." And 
if you bear witness to him in a world where his name is dishonoured 
and despised, he will bear witness to you in the presence of his Fa- 
ther and the holy angels. The martyrs were so named because 
they were witnesses for Christ. A multitude of them which no 
man can number, have gone up in chariots of fire to the throne 
of God. Follow them. " Seeing you are compassed about with 
so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin 
which doth so easily beset you, and run with patience the race 
that is set before you, looking unto Jesus the author and 
finisher of our faith." Above all, look up to him who "wit- 
nessed a good profession before many witnesses, ' ' and now from 
his glorious seat, cries down to you, ' i Be thou faithful unto 
death, and I will give thee a crown of life." " Ye are my wit- 
nesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen : 
that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he : 
before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after 
me. I, even I, am the Lord ; and beside me there is no Sa- 
viour. I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, 



XIII.] god's witnesses. 219 

when there was no strange god among you : therefore ye are 
my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God. ' ' 

What testimony, my brethren, shall I bear on your behalf, to 
these our friends who are yet strangers to the grace of God ? 
May I tell them from you, as well as from God, that there is 
salvation in Christ for perishing sinners ? With your consent, 
then, I give this testimony, and say to them, " We have found 
the Messias. " " That which we have seen and heard declare 
we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us : and 
truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus 
Christ." 

We testify unto you that God hears prayer, that he pardons 
sin, that he imparts a peace which passeth all understanding, 
and inspires the hope of everlasting life. "We are journeying 
unto the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you : 
come thou with us, and we will do thee good : for the Lord hath 
spoken good concerning Israel." Will you receive our witness? 
If not, will you believe the eternal God under oath ? Hearken 
to his testimony : "As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no 
pleasure in the death of the wicked ; but that the wicked turn 
from his way and live : turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways ; 
for why will ye die, house of Israel?" 



220 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 



SERMON XIV. 
INCREASE OUR FAITH. 

Luke xvii. 5. — And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase 

our faith. 

This prayer of the apostles for an increase of faith, stands in 
immediate connexion with a lesson which the Saviour had ad- 
dressed to them, on the duty of forgiving injuries. It would 
seem as if his doctrine on this subject had made a deep impres- 
sion, and that the idea of forgiving those who trespass against 
us, indefinitely and without end, was quite in advance of their 
present attainments. Without, however, questioning the obli- 
gation of the duty, they confess their insufficiency for its per- 
formance. It required more grace than they yet possessed, to 
forgive an offender seven times in a day. It needed faith to do 
what they had already done, in leaving all to follow Christ, but 
here is something more difficult. To our unholy natures revenge 
is sweet, and when prudence or principle restrains us from in- 
flicting evil on those who injure us, the temptation is strong, to 
cherish in the heart feelings of resentment, and, at least to pun- 
ish men with our indignation and contempt. 

The natural man yields to this temptation, and it is one of the 
noblest triumphs of grace in a regenerate soul, to forgive men their 



XIV.] INCREASE OUR FAITH. 221 

trespasses even as we hope for and need the forgiveness of God. 
If the divine life within us is feeble and languid, we shall be in 
the same measure, vindictive and unforgiving, and any who will 
not from his heart forgive an offending fellow-mortal proves 
himself to be under the condemnation of God. And while this 
request of the apostles confesses their un preparedness for so ar- 
duous a duty, it shows a just appreciation of the true source of 
a Christian's strength. 

Persons less instructed in the nature of experimental and prac- 
tical religion, and looking superficially at the subject, might 
have prayed for an increase of meekness, or patience, or hu- 
mility, that when offences came, they might be met with a calm 
and unruffled temper. These are excellent graces, of which we 
have immediate need when exposed to provocation or injury ; 
but they are dependent upon and nurtured by a more radical 
principle of the Christian character. 

Faith underlies, precedes, produces them. Praying for the 
increase of faith, is in effect to pray for their increase ; and thus 
tends to keep down unholy resentments. And more than this, 
faith itself operates directly and powerfully on the duty and act 
of forgiving injuries. In fact, there is nothing but faith in God 
as the Judge of men, at whose bar we all must stand, and on 
whose pardoning mercy we depend for salvation, that can sub- 
due the vindictive spirit which delights to do to others as they 
have done to us. Forgive one another, as God for Christ's sake 
hath forgiven you : this is the irresistible argument, and it is 
faith alone that brings it down and makes it influential as a mo- 
tive amidst the temptations and duties of every-day life. The 
light which the connexion thus throws upon the text, is that an 
increase of faith is the grand preparation for performing the 

most difficult duties, and meeting successfully the trials to which 
19* 



222 truth IN LOVE. [Ser. 

we are all exposed. The subject is in the highest degree prac- 
tical, and of universal application. Let us give it earnest heed. 
It is the increase of faith : and nothing would just now be more 
in place, than for us to breathe the prayer of the apostles : 
"Lord, increase our faith : " and inasmuch as faith cometh by 
hearing, let us meditate devoutly on what the Scriptures teach 
concerning this important subject. 

That for the increase of which we pray is faith : and it is 
natural, and not unnecessary to begin with some consideration 

Of ITS NATURE. 

How often the word occurs in Scripture, and how large a place 
is held, and how vital an office is performed by faith in the sal- 
vation of the soul, you need not be informed. 

In a sense not true of any other act of the soul, or of any other 
grace of the Spirit, we are saved by faith. We are justified by 
faith ; we stand by faith ; we walk by faith : and the life we now 
live in the flesh, we live by the faith of the Son of God. So 
radical is it in religious character, and so pervading in the acts 
and life of the Christian, that he is named therefrom a believer. 
What, then, is faith? In one aspect it is very simple. As an 
exercise of the soul, it is only to believe : and there is nothing 
more mysterious in the faith which saves us, than in the belief 
and trust we repose in men in the social and commercial inter- 
course of life. If it be considered with respect to the objects on 
which it rests, and the fruits which it yields, and the circum- 
stances under which it is exercised, it presents an almost endless 
variety of phases, and is linked with every doctrine of the gos- 
pel, every form of Christian experience, and every condition of 
life. A careful study of the Scriptures will bring us, I think, 
to the conclusion that the two great characteristics of Christian 
and saving faith regard the grounds on which it rests, and the 



XIV.] INCREASE OUR FAITH. 223 

objects at which it looks. It is unlike all merely human faith, 
in that it rests on the authority of God, testifying to men in the 
Scriptures in reference to what they could not otherwise know. 

This appears to be the sense of the apostle where he says — 
c ' we walk by faith, not by sight, ' ' and in that other and notable 
text which defines faith as being ' c the substance of things hoped 
for, and the evidence of things not seen. ' ' These passages as- 
sert what the religious history of men demonstrates, that certain 
and accurate knowledge of the spiritual and eternal world is ob- 
tained only by revelation from God. Neither sense nor reason 
can pierce the veil that hides the awful and grand realities which 
are about and beyond us ; the wisest and purest of the ancient 
sages attained to nothing better than plausible conjectures and 
uncertain hopes. The "hidden wisdom which none of the 
princes of this world knew, ' ' is made known in Scripture : " as 
it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have 
entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath pre- 
pared for them that love him : but God hath revealed them unto 
us by his Spirit. ' ' Faith is the firm belief of these Divine reve- 
lations : it rests on the testimony of God ; it believes the Scrip- 
tures u for the authority of God speaking therein," and is thus 
a supernatural and divine principle, believing on the ground of 
God's veracity, and is wrought in the soul by his power. It 
does not, therefore, "stand in the wisdom of men, but in the 
power of God, ' ' who first reveals the truth in the Scriptures, 
and then discloses it to the heart by the inward teaching of his 
Spirit. This, then, is the first element of faith : it receives and 
relies on Divine testimony in regard to things otherwise unknown 
and unknowable. Its second great characteristic regards the 
objects to which it looks. The testimony of God reveals truths, 
and discovers objects : and faith embraces the truth, and looks 



224 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

at the things which this testimony discovers. An illustration 
from nature may render this distinction clear. The spiritual 
world, the Scriptures, and faith, have their several types in the 
material universe, the light of the sun, and the human eye. 

The earth, without the light of the sun, is wrapt in darkness ; 
and when the light shines, there is no perception of the form 
and beauty of the world without the eye; as, "in the begin- 
ning," God first made the earth, then the light, and, last of all, 
brought man upon the scene to behold and admire his workmai> 
ship. Thus, also, in things divine and supernatural. There is 
the spiritual world, but hidden from mortal sight till God pours 
upon it the light of revelation ; and even after this is done, there 
is no discernment of the grand and glorious objects with which 
it is filled, till the eyes of the understanding are opened, and 
the new organ of faith is exercised. 

The effect of this on the soul resembles that of the sun on our 
bodily senses and actions. It imparts knowledge, awakens feel- 
ing, ' ' and determines conduct. Opening our eyes upon the natu- 
ral world, we see in one direction a beautiful landscape, to be 
admired ; in another, a frightful danger to be avoided ; here a 
treasure to be secured, there a labour to be performed, and in 
yet another direction, a path to be trodden. So, when a man is 
translated from the darkness of unbelief into the marvellous 
light of faith in the revelations of the gospel, { c old things pass 
away," like shadows of the night and chimeras of a disordered 
fancy, and all things become new. New ideas, new emotions, 
new pleasures, " newness of life," and a " new creature," is the 
certain and happy result. Every truth of the gospel and all the 
things of the spiritual world, are included in the object of faith, 
and just so far as they are known and present to the view of the 
mind, they produce an effect suitable to their nature. 



XIV. 1 INCREASE OUR FAITH. 225 

Faith in the promises of God imparts peace and joy ; faith in 
his threatenings, awakens godly fear ; faith in the doctrine of 
immortality and the retributions of a future state, moves us to 
earnest preparation for death and eternity ; and our daily life is 
governed by the c ' powers of the world to come. " If we believe 
in God ; even that he is, and that he is a re warder of them that 
seek him ; if we believe in the attributes of his glorious nature ; 
in the strictness of his law, the power of his providence, the 
freeness of his gospel, and the infinite love he reveals and exer- 
cises towards men ; through the mediation of the Lord Jesus 
Christ ; it is evident that a faith like this must penetrate our 
inmost being, must rule in the heart, must mould the character, 
must shape the life ; that it must stir profounder emotions and 
maintain a grasp on the soul as much more firm than anything 
else, as its objects are more glorious, great, and enduring than 
all the things which address themselves to reason and sense. 

Thus we see the nature and power of faith. It is the soul's 
living contact with and sensibility to the truths and facts of re- 
velation. Its every single act is, as it were, a glance of the eye 
at these impressive and solemn verities ; and as it grows in 
strength and steadiness, it becomes the habit of c l looking not at 
the things which are seen and are temporal, but at those which 
are unseen and are eternal." Such, in its nature, is that " pre- 
cious faith' ' which all the children of God have 8 c obtained : ' ' 
but while, in its nature, it is alike in all the disciples of Christ, 
it differs greatly in its degree, and is susceptible of increase ; 
and this brings us more exactly to the point of our text, and the 
subject of our discourse : the increase of faith. It may be very 
weak even where it is true and saving : and there are times in 
the experience of strong believers, when their faith is feeble, and 
they greatly feel the need of its increase. 



226 TRUTH IN LOVE. fSer. 

In common, Peter was not specially, deficient in this vital prin- 
ciple of the Christian character, but when walking on the 
water to go to Jesus, he saw the wind boisterous, and was afraid, 
he began to sink, and received along with the timely succour of 
Jesus Christ, the gentle rebuke, — " thou of little faith, where- 
fore didst thou doubt?" And in that night of preternatural 
darkness and temptation when Satan desired to have him that 
he might sift him as wheat, though his gracious Lord prayed 
for him that his faith might not fail, it is certain that little more 
than the slenderest thread could have remained to unite him to 
the Saviour whom he denied. Thomas, more than the rest, it 
would seem, was staggered by the death of his Divine Master, 
and was so fixed in unbelief as to discredit the testimony of 
those who had seen their risen Lord, and was only recovered when 
the evidence which he had unreasonably required, was granted : 
but along with the condescending grace of Jesus, there was given 
a pointed rebuke — u Be not faithless, but believing." 

These diversities which appeared among the immediate disci- 
ples of Christ are found among all Christians, In some of 
them, faith is very weak ; in others, strong ; in all it is capable 
of increase. It may increase — it ought to increase. We are as 
much commanded to believe with a strong faith as we are to be- 
lieve at all. The warrant for faith is the veracity of God, and 
if he who believeth not God, hath made him a liar, and is guilty 
of a heinous crime, is there not an element of this sin, in the 
weakness of our faith, which begets doubts whether God will do 
as he has said, and which fears that he may not ? Our reason 
for believing in God and his revelations at all, is a reason for the 
most absolute and unquestioning faith. And while the ground 
of faith — which, as we have seen, is the Divine testimony — not 
only warrants, but requires perfect and implicit confidence, and 



XIV.] INCREASE OUR FAITH. 227 

brings guilt not only on those who have no faith at all, but on 
those whose faith is weak ; the same thing appears from con- 
sidering the immediate and actual causes of this weakness of 
faith. One of them is ignorance of^ and inattention to the word 
of God. The Scriptures are God's testimony : and how can we 
believe, any farther than we know and consider it? It is the 
word of God which begets, and supports, and nourishes faith : 
and in order to this, it must be devoutly read and listened to. 
Neglect of the Scriptures and ignorance of their contents are the 
food of unbelief; and a man who is mighty in the Scriptures is 
certain to be " strong in faith. ' ' The doubt and distress into 
which the disciples were thrown by the crucifixion of Christ, 
was the direct and obvious result of unacquaintance with the 
word of God. They trusted that Jesus was the Messiah, till he 
was put to death ; and when that happened, they knew not 
what to think ; whereas, if they had known the Scriptures and 
the power of God, they would have seen in his death the fulfil- 
ment of prophecy, and so would have found a fresh support of 
their faith. Their ignorance was culpable, and of course the 
unbelief which sprang from it was equally so : and while the 
risen Redeemer condescended to remove it, he pointed out and 
rebuked its guilty cause: — " fools, and slow of heart to be- 
lieve all that the prophets have spoken — and beginning at 
Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the 
Scriptures the things concerning himself" — and while he spake, 
their hearts burned within them, their eyes were opened to know 
him, and faith grew up to a strength and stature which it had 
never reached before. If the unbelief which rejects Christ and 
salvation is condemned and punished as an aggravated sin, cer- 
tainly the unbelief which lingers in the heart of a believer, 
and which might be expelled by a better knowledge and a more 



228 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei\ 

devout study of the Scriptures, is not innocent. It dishonours 
God, and paralyzes our own strength. Another and special im- 
pediment to faith, is the want of a good conscience. The apos- 
tle exhorts to "hold the mystery of the faith in a pure con- 
science : " in nothing else can it be held. Guilt is the natural 
extinguisher of faith, as much so as water is of fire. A guilty 
conscience — a conscience which is ever unquiet by reason of ne- 
glected duties and doubtful practices — is wholly incompatible 
with ''confidence toward God," and "boldness" at the throne 
of grace. Destroying faith, it quenches the spirit of prayer, 
and renders impossible that pleading earnestness which prevails 
with God. Careless, unstable, unreliable, worldly-minded Chris- 
tians have little faith. Their inconsistent life is at once the evi- 
dence of its weakness, and the cause of its continually becoming 
more so. For these and like reasons, we must proceed on the 
assumption that the weakness of faith is a fault to be repented 
of, not less than a want to be supplied. The prayer for more, is 
a virtual confession of our sin in having so little ; nevertheless, 
it is a hopeful symptom. Is it the desire of our hearts? Is it 
your prayer to God, now and always — "Increase my faith?" 
If so, the methods and means of its increase will be of interest. 
On this point, we shall attempt but a few brief suggestions. In 
the text, the apostles asked of the Saviour, as a direct bestow- 
ment, that he would increase their faith ; and this suggests that 
prayer is a means of increasing faith. It possesses, indeed, an 
admirable adaptation to this end. Faith is the gift of God, and 
therefore it is to be sought in prayer, as are all other divine 
blessings. If we have a little faith, and pray for more, God 
will give it to us by the inspirations of his Holy Spirit, helping 
our unbelief, and increasing our faith : while prayer thus obtains 
faith as a divine gift, and so adds to its strength, it exercises it 



XIV.] INCREASE OUR FAITH. 229 

as a grace, and according to a law of both natural and spirituul 
life, increases its vigour and activity. Prayer to the invisible 
God, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for spiritual and 
eternal mercies, is purely an act of faith. Prayer is faith in ex- 
ercise. If not identical, they are intimately related. They act 
and react on one another continually. Faith prompts to prayer, 
and prayer increases faith. It does so both in the nature of the 
act, and in the method of its answer. If the answer came al- 
ways in the moment of asking, faith would not be nourished so 
much as sense would be indulged. The Syro-Phenician mother 
had strong faith when she began to cry to Jesus in behalf of her 
daughter; but when, after repeated and distressing repulses, 
she pressed her suit and triumphed, her faith mightily increased, 
and would have removed mountains ; and from the lips of the 
Son of God, she received the precious commendation and as- 
surance — u O woman, great is thy faith!" 

The Christian who thus cries to God in his closet, and kneels 
with his family at the mercy-seat, and forsakes not the place 
where social prayer is wont to be made — will experience a steady 
increase of his faith. It grows by its exercise in prayer, by the 
grace which God gives in answer to prayer, by the very method 
of the answer, and by the fact of getting answer at all. Every 
instance of answered prayer establishes faith in Jehovah as a 
prayer-hearing and a prayer-answering God. Another means 
of its increase, entirely within our reach, is active employment 
in the service of God. If you wish to find a professor of re- 
ligion who is ' i fearful and unbelieving, ' ' imagining difficulties 
and dangers in every direction ; afraid to attempt anything for 
fear it will fail, and living without the joys and consolations of 
religion, go to one who does the least service in the church : and 

who habitually shrinks from or refuses to perform a large part 
20 



230 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

of Christian duties. Such a course of behaviour violates the 
fundamental conditions of the life of faith, and if the divine 
principle be in him at all, it can only drag out a sickly exist- 
ence, with fewer and fainter pulsations. The law of its life and 
the condition of its increase is activity. It u worketh by love ;" 
and this its native tendency must be complied with, in order to 
its growth. It may and must be nurtured by the word of God, 
and by the influences of grace, bestowed in answer to prayer, 
but these alone do not bring it up to a full and healthy develop- 
ment. It needs work. 

Faith and works, though theological opposites in the matter 
of our justification, which cannot be mingled, are friendly allies 
and energetic co-labourers in our sanctification. In Abraham, 
the father of believers, faith wrought with his works, and by 
works was faith made perfect : its genuineness was evinced and 
its strength increased. Every act of sincere obedience to God 
that you perform, will increase your faith, and especially every 
act of self-denying service will have this effect. Try the experi- 
ment, and you will bear witness to its efficacy. 

With reference to the means and methods of increasing faith. 
I only add further, that God has this end in view in all the deal- 
ings of his providence. It is of the very essence of our proba- 
tion, that we are required and taught to live by faith : and the 
whole scheme of providence and grace is adjusted for developing 
and strengthening this habit of the soul. For this end the bless- 
ing on our labours is concealed or delayed ; impediments are left 
or even placed in our path ; the providential way of Jehovah is 
through the sea and in the deep waters ; and the unfolding of 
his mighty plans and holy purposes is so slow that the forward 
movement in the life-time of a generation is scarcely perceptible 
to those who stand amid the world's confusions. 



XIV.] INCREASE OUR FAITH. 231 

Sense and reason cannot pierce the clouds and darkness which 
surround him, and we are "shut up to the faith," which as- 
sures us that " justice and judgment are the habitation of his 
throne," and whether we can see it or not, " all things do work 
together for good, to them that love God ;" and for the further- 
ance of that kingdom which is ' ' righteousness and peace, and 
joy in the Holy Grhost." Thus, when sense is blind and reason 
baffled, are we schooled to the exercise of faith, and by the ex- 
ercise, faith is increased. And oftentimes, the purpose designed 
by the Christian's afflictions is not so much the punishment of 
his sins, as it is the proof of his faith. Like gold from the fur- 
nace, it emerges from the fiery trial, approved, purified, per- 
fected, and is found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at the 
appearing of Jesus Christ. 

By such methods and processes, God answers our prayer for 
the increase of faith, and in so doing confers upon us the great- 
est blessing we can receive in the present world. 

" Faith" is the great law, condition, and characteristic of 
our life on earth, as ' c sight ' ' is the grand peculiarity and excel- 
lence of the believer's estate in heaven. 

Faith is the radical grace and principle of Christian character; 
its increase is the virtual increase of all other attributes and 
principles. It works by love ; it begets joy, peace, hope, and 
all the beautiful train of graces which adorn the character and 
bless the soul. It is the root from which they grow, and as, in 
material husbandry and horticulture, the only method of obtain- 
ing fruit and flowers is the planting of seeds, so, in this garden, 
of the Lord, the virtues and graces which beautify the character 
and life of a Christian spring up from the germ of faith, and 
most abound where that divine principle is the strongest. In 
the increase of faith, sanctification, in all its elements and prin- 



232 truth in LOVE. [Ser. 

ciples, is carried forward. Faith " purifies the heart." It is a 
principle of antagonism to all evil, and will not rest till every 
corruption is mortified and destroyed. 

It is indispensable in the performance of our duties. If we 
depend on mere feelings for the impulsive power which shall 
urge and uphold us in the service of God, feeling may fluctuate, 
joy may decline, and darkness may surround us. We need, to 
keep us firm, and patient, and faithful, a principle which never 
suspends its operation ; which grasps the changeless and glori- 
ous things of the spiritual world and the eternal future, and 
brings down from heaven motives and powers, when all within 
is comfortless, and all around discouraging ! Faith is this bond 
of union and channel of communication between earth and heaven, 
between the soul and God. 

Whatever of motive power there is for doing and enduring 
the Divine will, in the thought of God's all-seeing eye, in the 
solemnities of the judgment-bar, in the hope of everlasting life, 
and in the danger of eternal banishment from the presence of 
the Lord, and the glory of his power, — all this is by faith brought 
to bear as an incentive to fidelity in the duties of our earthly lot: 
and not the power of motives only, but the direct power of al- 
mighty grace, " helping our infirmities/' feeding our hidden life 
with spiritual supplies, is conveyed by faith from its heavenly 
source. Faith is union with God in Christ ; the fellowship of 
human weakness with Divine strength. Man's impotence ob- 
tains the aid of God's almightiness, and the believer is able to 
do what mere mortal power could never achieve. 

Strong in the Lord and in the power of his might, the Chris- 
tian performs duties which are painful to his natural sensibilities ; 
and resists temptations before which others fall. With u the 
shield of faith," he quenches all the fiery darts of the wicked, 



XIV.] INCREASE OUR FAITH. 233 

and when the world and all its attractions are offered as the bribe 
of his fidelity and the price of his soul, faith looks away to the 
crowns, and palms, and treasures of a better country, and spurns 
the worthless baubles of earth. ' ' This is the victory that over- 
cometh the world, even our faith. ' ' 

Have you this precious faith, my brethren? Bless God for 
its bestowment, and pray for its increase, till it shall hold the 
undivided ascendency of your heart, and govern your life. 
"Walk by faith," and you will walk safely, steadily, joyfully; 
and in the end of your pilgrimage, will reach the glorious ob- 
jects which have been the pole-star of your earthly wanderings. 
' ' For now we see through a glass, darkly ; but then face to face : 
now we know in part ; but then shall we know even as also we are 
known. ' ' The church needs'the increase of faith, and the sinner 
needs its first implantation. 

Ye that have no faith, consider that your want of it is sin. 
Your unbelief is not owing to any intellectual inability, nor to 
any want of evidence. It is due to the indisposition and unwill- 
ingness of the heart. c ' He that believeth not God, hath made 
him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave 
of his Son. He that believeth on him, is not condemned : but 
he that believeth not, is condemned already, because he hath 
not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 
This is his commandment : That we should believe on the name 
of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us 

commandment." 
20* 



234 truth in love. [Ser. 



SERMON XV. 

THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EAR- 

NEST. 

2 Cor. i. 21, 22. — Now he which hath anointed us is God, 
who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our 
hearts. 

Some expositors would restrict the application of these state- 
ments to the apostles and other ministers of the word, who were 
endowed with peculiar gifts and graces of the Holy Grhost. 

This does not, however, appear to be required by the context, 
and has nothing to support it in the general teachings of Scrip- 
ture. In the confirmation which is named in connexion with 
the particulars here recited, the apostle expressly joins the Co- 
rinthian Christians with himself, as the subjects of it, and then 
proceeds, without any change of construction, to say that the 
same G-od who had ' ' established' ' him with them in Christ, had 
anointed, and sealed, and given the earnest of the Spirit in their 
hearts. And while the structure of the passage favours, and 
even seems to demand this comprehension of all believers, the 
members, not less than the ministry of the church, as recipients 
of the grace described, our minds may be relieved of all doubt, 
by the fact that every one of these forms of spiritual influence 



XV.] THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL. AND AN EARNEST. 235 

is spoken of in other places, and some of them very often, as 
Christian characteristics and Christian privileges — an honour 
put on " all the saints/' a blessing bestowed on the heirs of sal- 
vation. 

A true minister of Jesus Christ, while he firmly maintains the 
order of God's house, is not so jealous of his official prerogatives 
as to envy the gifts and graces of the laity, or to grieve over 
good accomplished by other than apostolical and ministerial 
hands. If devils are cast out in the name of Jesus, by those 
who follow not with him, or are not invested with official robes, 
he will say with the Master — "Forbid them not," and with 
Moses, when one told him that, contrary to usage and order, 
Eldad and Medad were prophesying "in the camp," and not 
with the rest of the elders "round about the tabernacle" — " En- 
viest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people 
were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon 
them!" What "Moses, the man of God," desired for the Is- 
rael of his day, is the devout prayer of all who have more zeal 
for the glory of Christ than for their own influence and distinc- 
tion. In this description of the Christian's character and rela- 
tion to God, there is a harmonious blending of dignity, and 
duty, and privilege ; and the unity of the text consists in the 
common relation which all these particulars sustain to God as 
their author, to the Holy Spirit as their instrument, and to the 
soul of the believer as the subject in which they meet and blend : 
and the topic we have for consideration is the Holy Ghost, 
viewed in the threefold relation of an unction, a seal, and an 
earnest 1 1 Now he which hath anointed us is God, who hath 
also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. ' ' 

I. We are, in the first place, to consider Christians as the 
subjects of a Divine unction — as God's anointed ones ; and in 



236 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

the outset, let me warn you against the mistake of emptying 
this language of its high and precious significance, by regarding 
it as a figure of speech. The thing declared is an experimental 
fact, and a Divine reality — far more so than if, as in former ages, 
a holy ointment, with form and ceremony, were poured upon the 
head. The meaning of the language, however, can only be ob- 
tained by reference to this ancient usage. 

The call and investiture of prophets, priests, and kings, was 
accompanied and symbolized by anointing them with oil. Thus 
Samuel anointed Saul and afterwards, the son of Jesse, to be 
king of Israel. In the ritual of the Jews, which prescribed the 
method of ordaining Aaron and his sons to the priesthood, we 
read of a "holy anointing oil," compounded with rare and 
costly spices ; which was poured on the head of the priests, ■ ' to 
sanctify' ' them, as it is said. The meaning of the ceremony 
was obviously that of consecration to a particular office or func- 
tion. It carried with it authority and obligation to serve God, 
and men as well, in a manner expressly indicated. Kings, 
priests, and prophets thus set apart, were spoken of as "the 
Lord's anointed," and on this account were treated with respect 
and veneration. In Jesus Christ, all the prophetic, regal, and 
priestly functions, which before had been divided amongst dif- 
ferent persons, were united, and he, above all the sons of men, 
is the Lord's Anointed. Most of you, perhaps, well know that 
his name of Christ means one that is anointed. The Hebrew 
Messiah of the Old Testament, is the Greek Christ of the 
New ; and the title is suggestive of the consecration he received 
to the mighty work of human salvation, in the triple character 
of prophet, priest, and king. A priest on his throne "after 
the order of Melchisedek. " He received his ordination imme- 
diately from the hands of God, and was "anointed with the 



XV.] THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EARNEST. 237 

oil of gladness above his fellows," when the Holy Ghost without 
measure was poured upon him. 

The oil of Aaron's consecration was but the symbol of an 
inward and effectual unction of God's Spirit, which both 
authorized and qualified Jesus, ' ' to preach good tidings unto 
the meek. ' ' 

Descending and remaining upon him, it prepared him for the 
ministry of labour and suffering to which he was appointed, and 
thus fulfilled the prophecy, that ' c the Spirit of the Lord should 
rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the 
Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the 
fear of the Lord. ' ' After he had run his earthly course and 
returned to his glory, the author of the book of Acts records it 
as a matter of simple history, that ' i God' ' had c i anointed Jesus 
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost. ' ' In the light of these re- 
marks, we may see the nature of that anointing which the 
apostle attributes to believers. 

As from Christ, they have their new life and new character, 
so from him they have their "new name" of Christians, or, 
Anointed ones. And their anointing, like that of the apostle 
and high priest of their profession, is by the Holy Ghost. 

That they have the Spirit is a truth which shines throughout 
the Scriptures. He dwells in them, consecrating their bodies 
and souls as the living temple of his perpetual residence ; but 
the peculiar truth which is here announced is, that they have 
the Spirit in the nature of an " unction, ' ' calling them to a 
special work and a holy vocation; separating them from the 
outlying and common world of mankind, and appointing them 
to stand, like Israel of old, in a sacred relation to God — a 
<; peculiar people, a kingdom of priests." In our lowly sphere, 
and at an infinite remove from the glorious Head from whom we 



238 truth in love. [Ser. 

have our spiritual nature, name, and mission, it is nevertheless 
true, that Christians are actually and visibly conformed to the 
image of Him who is the first-born among them all, and in a 
modified sense, perform the same functions and do the same 
works. Like him they execute the office of a prophet, de- 
claring to men the will of God for their salvation. 

If he proclaims himself "the light of the world" did he not 
say to them, " Ye are the light of the world?" — "As the Father 
hath sent me into the world, so send I you." If in his priestly 
character, he draws nigh to God, and offers before the throne his 
intercessions for men, and by the merit of his sacrifice, secures 
the acceptance of their services and persons, are they not also 
intercessors ; " a holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices, 
acceptable to God?" Paul, on the ground of his agency in the 
conversion of the Gentiles, represents himself as performing a 
priestly service in presenting them as an offering to God. And 
if it be difficult in the present condition and character of Chris- 
tians to see the evidences and attributes of kingly dignity and 
power, it is to be remembered that the believer's " glory," like 
that of Jesus, is to be enjoyed in heaven and not on earth. It 
is the subject of a promise and the object of hope, waited for 
with c c earnest expectation. ' ' For the present, we have a more 
direct and practical concern with the prophetic office of teaching 
and the priestly duty of praying for men, and this, we take to 
be the essential idea and main purpose of that anointing which 
God bestows on all his people. It separates them to his service 
in all the sacred duties of religion, and in all those good works 
and holy charities which tend to the salvation of souls and the 
improvement of the world. If the hands of some man of God, 
like Moses, had been laid upon you, as they were on Joshua ; or 
if a Divine voice like that which startled the child Samuel on 



XV. J THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EARNEST. 239 

his bed, had fallen on your ear ; or, if the Son of God, revealed 
in dazzling brightness, had appeared to you, as he did to Saul 
of Tarsus, your call to a special service would have been no 
more distinct, nor would have carried with it any higher au- 
thority than that which came to you in " the still small voice," 
with the soft breathing, and effective anointing of the Holy 
Spirit, when he opened your eyes to see, and your ears to hear, 
and your heart to embrace " the glorious gospel of the blessed 
God. ' ' In every form of external call and ordination, by which 
men are set apart to the special service of God, there is the 
possibility of mistake ; and, in point of fact, many receive the 
imposition of human hands, who bear no credentials from 
Heaven. The unction of the Spirit has this grand peculiarity, 
that it qualifies as well as authorizes those who receive it, to 
serve God as prophets and priests in his holy and gracious king- 
dom. It enlightens, and sanctifies, and strengthens, and im- 
parts courage, and endows even babes in Christ with a deeper 
discernment than c ' the wise and prudent' ' ' ' disputers of this 
world' ' possess. The apostle John ascribes it to those whom he 
calls, ' ' little children, ' ' and speaks in most emphatic terms of 
its effect on the mind and heart. If others apostatized, and 
were led away with the error of the wicked, he was sure they 
would not, "for," said he, "ye have an unction from the Holy 
One, and ye know all things," and "the anointing which ye 
have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any 
man teach you ; but as the same anointing teacheth you of all 
things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught 
you, ye shall abide in him. ' ' As with respect to worldly voca- 
tions, the question whether an individual has a call to pursue 
any particular trade, or business, or profession, is determined 
mainly by his aptitude, his genius, or his taste for it. So in the 



240 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

department of those high spiritual relations and duties to which 
the followers of Christ are called. The nature of the qualifica- 
tion imparted, indicates that of the service to which they are 
appointed. With eyes enlightened to see the glory of Christ, 

4 

and with hearts renewed after his likeness, and filled with the 
sweet sense of his love and the joy of his salvation, their mis- 
sion to be the instrumental saviours of those who are yet in sin, 
is written in the work of the Spirit in their own souls, and is 
sure to be sought and found by those who feel the power of this 
most blessed unction. And this suggests, that the manner of 
life we lead, and the place which the salvation of men and the 
honour of Christ's kingdom hold in our thoughts and labours, is 
the criterion by which the question of our ever having received 
the anointing of the Spirit, is to be decided. If we allow the 
Spirit to lead us in paths of righteousness, and of holy benevo- 
lence, and of self-denying labours, we have the highest evidence 
possible, of that ' ' holy calling, ' ' which, coming from God, leads 
to God, and is unto salvation. If we " walk after the flesh, ' - 
and love the world, and are profoundly indifferent to the con- 
version of sinners, and the spread of vital religion and the 
gracious kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, we are " sensual, " 
and "have not the Spirit;" and "if any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ' ' 

II. And this shows how close and vital the relation is between 
the Spirit as an unction, and the Spirit as a seal, which is the 
second form of truth presented in the text. If we have the 
Spirit in our souls as an effectual anointing that consecrates us 
in heart and life to the service of God, we have consciously 
stamped upon our inward being the seal of God. Though it is 
not so expressed in the text, we learn from other places of Scrip- 
ture that believers are c ' sealed' ' by the Spirit. The apostle re- 



XV.] THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EARNEST. 241 

fers to it as an experimental fact in the case of the Ephesians, 
that ' ' after they believed, they were sealed with the Holy Spirit 
of promise, ' ' and exhorts them not to ' ' grieve the Holy Spirit 
of God, by whom they were sealed unto the day of redemption. ' ' 
The Spirit in the soul is therefore the seal with which God de- 
signates his people : and the question arises whether the refer- 
ence is to any special and peculiar influence and effect of the 
Spirit, or to his whole work in the sanctification of believers. 
There is no reason that we are aware of for restricting the lan- 
guage to any single aspect of the Spirit's work ; and by extend- 
ing it to the whole of what he does within a regenerate heart, 
we avoid the danger of a fanatical dependence on sudden im- 
pulses and superficial emotions, which may or may not proceed 
from his saving and gracious operation. 

Profoundly mysterious though it be, with respect to its man- 
ner, likened to the wind, of which we cannot tell whence it com- 
eth or whither it goeth, its effect on the character is not at all 
mysterious, but an actual and real thing — an object of conscious- 
ness, and even of observation. The seal of the Spirit is the 
soul's sanctification ; it is faith, and love, and joy, and peace ; 
it is deadness to the world, and delight in God ; it is the spirit 
of prayer, and self-denial, and consecration to the Lord Jesus 
Christ. It is that image of the invisible God which is stamped 
upon the spirit and reflected in the life of all true Christians. 
The Spirit is the die, the soul the metal, and the likeness of God 
the character and the inscription imparted : and this precisely 
is what the Scriptures mean when they speak of the Spirit's 
seal, in so far as its substance is concerned. The peculiar lesson 
of the subject lies in the reasons why this work of the Spirit 
should be named a seal. Among men, and in the relations of 

common life and the transactions of business, a seal is used for 
21 



242 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei\ 

a variety of purposes, which, however, have a general resem- 
blance. It indicates proprietorship, it authenticates as genuine 
and trustworthy the instrument to which it is attached, and it 
preserves safe and inviolate whatever it is appended to. Thus, 
in this last sense, we seal our letters ; and, for a like purpose, 
the stone laid upon the sepulchre of Jesus was ' ' sealed. ' ' 

Every one of these ideas and uses is embraced in the sealing 
of Christians by the Spirit of God. It is the stamp by which 
he claims them as his; the sign manual which authenticates 
them to the world and to themselves as his true children ; and 
the sacred defence which preserves them unto his kingdom and 
glory. 

Such a comprehensive interpretation is fully sustained by a 
collation of the passages where the figure occurs. If nominal 
Christians fall away to perdition, those upon whom God hath 
set his mark shall not— for 4 c the foundation of God standeth 
sure, having this seal ; the Lord knoweth them that are his. ' ' 
In the visions of John, he saw an ' ' angel having the seal of the 
living God," who was sent forth to "seal the servants of God 
in their foreheads, ' ' with an evident view to their preservation 
from the calamities which impended over the church and the 
world. The same idea is expressed when Christians are spoken 
of as " sealed unto the day of redemption." The Spirit in our 
souls, with all his fruits in heart and in life, is therefore God's 
mark, by which the claim of everlasting love and redeeming 
grace is asserted, and from which the world may know, and we 
may know, the relation existing between the God of mercy and 
ourselves. The writing of our names in the book of life is an 
act of God, not open for our inspection, nor possible to be known 
in any other way than as it is followed up by the impression of 
the Spirit's seal upon our hearts. " Because ye are sons, God 



XV.] THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EARNEST. 243 

hath sent forth the Spirit of .his Son into your hearts, crying, 
Abba, Father." 

This seal of God is possessed of a quality that does not belong 
to earthly and human seals, and in which its value essentially 
consists. It is incapable of being counterfeited, and is therefore 
infallible. However curious and elaborate the workmanship on 
a material plate or die may be, some ingenious counterfeiter will 
make a pattern of it so exact that common observers can per- 
ceive no difference between the genuine and the false, and even 
experts may be deceived. And so, in the sphere of morals and 
religion, there are acts and characteristics which may bear a 
close resemblance to that which is true, and saving, and divine, 
and yet be the offspring of an unsanctified heart, or even come 
of the working of Satan. The magicians of Egypt, in successive 
instances, mimicked the miracles of Moses, and seemed to hare 
the seal of Heaven affixed to their performances : and Jesus fore- 
warned his disciples that false Christs would arise, showing such 
signs and wonders that, "if it were possible, they would deceive 
the very elect. ' ' And in the region of inward experience and 
outward relations to the visible kingdom of God, there are de- 
ceptive tests of a gracious state and false grounds of confidence, 
but we may safely affirm that the seal of God's Spirit may be 
certainly distinguished from them all: and whoever has the 
Spirit, is in possession of the highest possible evidence of being 
an object of God's peculiar love. 

A more rooted prejudice and error was never overcome by ev- 
idence, than that of the apostle Peter, in reference to the ad- 
mission of Gentile converts directly into the Christian church. 
With all his brethren, Peter had thought that ' ' sinners of the 
Gentiles" must make two steps or stages before they could reach 
a state of salvation ; first becoming Jews, and then Christians. 



244 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

He thought that a believing heathen, must, like Abraham of 
old, ' ' receive the sign of circumcision, for a seal of the right- 
eousness of faith," and could not think otherwise, till he saw 
that God himself gave the higher seal of the Holy Spirit. Then 
he yielded, saying — "What was I that I should withstand God," 
and not baptize them that c ' have received the Holy Ghost as 
well as we?" If this one fact be surely settled, that the Spirit of 
holiness has been given us, we need look no further for the 
proofs of our acceptance with God: but lacking this, it is a 
ruinous mistake to build on anything else. If we could speak 
with the tongues of men and angels, and understood all mysteries 
and all knowledge, and if in all social relations our character 
were adorned by every virtue and courtesy which unaided nature, 
in its most faultless development, ever attains ; and though at 
the baptismal font we had received that sacramental washing 
which sjonbolizes and seals the Spirit's purifying grace, and at 
the table of the Lord had drunk of that cup which ' l is the new 
covenant in his blood;" these outward seals of a visible church 
would attest nothing at all in our favour, if the Spirit of God 
had never descended upon us as a baptism of fire, consuming 
the dross of our corruptions, and sanctifying our souls and 
bodies to the Lord. ' ' Sealing ordinances, ' ' as the sacraments 
of the New Testament are sometimes called, do not seal the 
salvation of any but believers, and believers are they who have 
the Spirit. Without the indwelling Spirit of God as the sanc- 
tifier of our nature, it is a fatal error to rest our hope on any 
other foundation ; with the Spirit, we need not concern ourselves 
about anything else, whether it be the mode of baptism, or the 
figment of apostolic succession, or those minute points of doc- 
trine in reference to which Christians of equal enlightenment 
and piety may, and do, differ in opinion. Recognizing the 



XV.] THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EARNEST. 245 

Spirit as the seal which God impresses upon his chosen and re- 
deemed people, it is a matter of deepest interest to us all, to 
know whether it is consciously and really stamped upon ourselves. 
It is implied in the nature of a seal, that it is capable of being 
discerned. Visibility belongs to its very idea. Its impression 
may be less or more distinct and deep, and on the surface of our 
sinful hearts, like characters traced on the sands, continually ob- 
scured and effaced by the overflowings of evil. But certainly we 
cannot but know the fact, if the Spirit un vails to us at times the 
glory of Christ, and fills the heart with a sweet sense of his awe, 
and inspires intense hatred of sin and godly contrition for our 
offences ; and with groanings which cannot be uttered, makes in- 
tercession forms at the mercy-seat. "What! know ye not that 
your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you, 
which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?" 

III. The Spirit dwells in all Christians anointing them to the 
service and sealing them to the salvation of God, and in so doing 
becomes u an earnest" of their future and eternal redemption. 
The same God who anointed them, and sealed them, hath given 
the "earnest of the Spirit in their hearts." 

Of this again we may say that it does not describe any new or 
specifically different work of the Spirit, but only views his whole 
gracious influence and operation in a particular aspect, It as- 
serts the connexion between what God does for his people on 
earth, and what he will do for them hereafter and in heaven. 
The Spirit of grace and holiness which he gives them now, is the 
earnest — the pledge, prophecy, and part of what he has pur- 
posed to give them when grace expands into glory, and the dim 
light of earth brightens into the effulgence of an eternal day. 
"Earnest-money" is the sum advanced to bind the contract, and 

to ensure full payment at the time appointed ; the ' ' first-fruits' ' 
21* 



246 truth in love. [Ser. 

which ensure, in due time, the ingathering and consecration of 
all the harvest. Such is the sense of the term — the meaning of 
the figure — such the precious doctrine it announces. The Spirit 
of God in our hearts is the beginning of salvation, and is given 
to be the earnest of its eternal fulness ; or, as the apostle else- 
where expresses it, l ' the earnest of our inheritance until the re- 
demption of the purchased possession." What this "posses- 
sion' ' is, we gather from a comparison of Scriptures, and find it 
to be a blessed immortality, including the resurrection of the 
body, and the unspeakable and endless felicity and glory of our 
whole redeemed nature. Depicting c ' the house not made with 
hands, ' ' to which the freed spirit of the Christian goes at death, 
Paul calls the work of grace wrought of God ku the heart, an 
earnest of that blessed life ; and writing to the Romans, the 
same apostle says, that ' ' we who have received the first-fruits 
of the Spirit, are waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemp- 
tion of our body. ' ' The resurrection of Christ from the dead is 
the pledge that all who are " Christ's at his coming" shall rise 
to glory, because of their union with him by the bond of his 
Spirit. " Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the 
first- fruits of them that slept. " " But if the Spirit of him 
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised 
1 up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies 
by his Spirit that dwelleth in you. ' ' Here is a well of consola- 
tion. As certainly as God has given you his Spirit as a Com- 
forter who enlightens, helps, sanctifies, and leads you in paths 
of holiness and peace, so certain is it that he will take your ran- 
somed spirit to his presence in death ; and in the morning of the 
resurrection will give you a body spiritual, immortal, glorious, 
like that of Christ. 

And while the Spirit within is thus " the pledge of joys to 



XV.] THE SPIRIT AN UNCTION, A SEAL, AND AN EARNEST. 247 

come," it is, at the same time, the foretaste of them, and gives 
the truest conception of heaven that is possible to dwellers in 
the flesh. It is not a figure of speech, but the plain statement 
of a fact, to say that the " earnest of the Spirit" is "heaven 
begun below," for it is part of that same experience, service, 
and salvation, which will constitute the joy of " the spirits of just 
men made perfect, ' ' when they go to the presence of Jesus and 
the bosom of God. It is not the pearly gates, and golden streets, 
and crowns of gold, the river of life, and the trees of paradise, 
that tell us most of celestial bliss, but the adoring reverence, and 
grateful love, and the holy joy, and the delight in God which 
the Spirit inspires when we muse of Jesus over the memorials 
of his passion, looking back to his cross and up to his throne. 

The gorgeous imagery of the Apocalypse may excite the imagi- 
nation and move the sensibilities of those who never wept for 
their sins, and have no ' c meetness for the inheritance of the 
saints in light. ' ' The question is : Have you the earnest of the 
Spirit in his holy fruits of " love, joy, and peace?" 

And there is this other consoling thought, that while the ear- 
nest foreshows with infallible certainty a future blessing, it be- 
longs to the nature of the case, and the idea of the thing, that 
there is an immense disproportion between the two. An earnest 
is a little, given as the pledge of much. One is the dawn strug- 
gling with the darkness of the night: the other a glorious 
day, without a cloud, and without a decline. The one is a se- 
cret fountain of living waters opened in the heart : the other is 
the river of life proceeding from the throne of God, and irrigat- 
ing u the wide extended plains" of the better country. Precious 
as the foretaste is, it is almost nothing to that which ' c remains 
for the people of God." " Now are we the sons of God," and 
we have the seal of his adoption in our hearts, " but it doth not 



248 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

yet appear what we shall be" in the day of our coming mani- 
festation. 

Thus, my brethren, I have endeavoured to set before you one 
of the great mysteries of experimental religion, in showing you 
the Spirit of God in the threefold character and relation of an 
unction, a seal, and an earnest. And the fitting close of our dis- 
course is the apostolic exhortation — "Grieve not the Holy 
Spirit." " Quench not the Spirit." Welcome his visitation ; 
seek his influence ; follow his guidance. Walk in the Spirit. 
Be filled with the Holy Grhost. Come from the four winds, 
breath ; anoint, seal, and keep us to eternal life. - 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 249 



SERMON XVI. 

DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 

Deut. viii. 15, 16. — Who led thee through that great and terrible 
wildeimess, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and 
drought, where there was no water ; icho brought thee forth 
toater out of the rock of flint ; who fed thee in the wilderness 
with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble 
thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter 
end. 

This passage throws light on a- subject of deep and abiding 
interest to the people of God. The methods of his providential 
dealing with his children and his church are a form of Divine 
revelation which demands more of the spirit of faith and sub- 
mission than is required by the most mysterious doctrines of the 
Bible. 

Such sublime mysteries as the Incarnation, the Trinity, and 
the Atonement, lying as they do beyond the sphere of reason's 
discoveries, are to be accepted by an act of simple faith in God, 
who reveals them : and this only involves that kind and degree 
of humility which consists in acknowledging the inferiority of 
our feeble intelligence to his infinite understanding. But when 
we turn from the revelations of Scripture to the discoveries of 



250 truth in love. [Ser. 

Providence; from doctrines which address themselves to the un- 
derstanding, to providential dispensations which defeat our pur- 
poses, disappoint our expectations, and wound our sensibilities, 
the case is very different, and we find it exceedingly difficult to 
believe in the wisdom and bow to the sovereignty of Jehovah. 
The feelings and behaviour developed in such circumstances, are 
a test of character the most infallible. 

Under the Providence which guides the way and determines 
the lot of individuals, and churches, and communities, a twofold 
revelation is ever going on : God is revealed to men, and men 
are revealed to themselves ; and both for the most important ends. 
Let us, therefore, make the subject of his Providential lead- 
ing and discipline the theme of our present meditations. 

The text exhibits it under the threefold aspect of its charac- 
teristics ■, its present effects , and its final purpose. 

I. With regard to the peculiar characteristics of the Divine 
guidance, we may take the description of Israel's condition and 
pilgrimage through the desert as embodying the substantial truth 
of universal experience. Besides being a chapter in the general 
history of the world, their case has the remarkable peculiarity 
of being the model, or type, of the Divine method with all men, 
and through all time. Israel was a typical people, and all that 
befell them had a prophetic reference, and c c happened, ' ' as the 
apostle says, "for our ensamples, and is written for our admoni- 
tion upon whom the ends of the world are come." The grand 
difference between the Divine guidance then and now regards 
the miraculous element, and the material, visible forms which it 
assumed : in all its essential characteristics it is the same. It 
must needs be so : it is exercised by the same God, upon men 
of the same character, and for the self-same purposes. Every 
feature of God's dealing with the Jews has its spiritual antitype 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 251 

in the methods of his providence towards ourselves. It is inter- 
esting to note the particulars in which the parallel holds true. 

The guidance is real and actual in both cases. It is said in 
the text, that God ' ' led ' ' Israel through the wilderness. They 
were not left to choose their own way : it was divinely ordered 
from beginning to end. They had Moses for a leader, but he 
was obedient to the commands of a higher Power : ' ' Jehovah 
led Israel like a flock, by the hand of Moses and Aaron. ' ' 

And what is remarkable, he did much more than indicate the 
general direction in which they were to journey. He marked 
the precise track ; appointed every encampment ; gave the sig- 
nal for every march and every halt throughout their entire wan- 
derings. God assumed to himself the whole conduct of their 
progress : nothing was left to their own choice. Their taste, 
their temper, not even their judgment was consulted ; and all 
this was done not in the absoluteness of Divine sovereignty, but 
in the tenderness of Divine compassion. It was the act of a Fa- 
ther whose wisdom and strength supplement the ignorance and 
helplessness of the child which he leads by the hand. As of 
old, so now, God leads his people. It is actual and real. No 
pillar of cloud and of fire is seen, but the vanished symbol has 
not carried away the indwelling God. It is the glorious mark 
of the New Testament age, that God is nearer now than he was 
before : and we know that a Presence more precious than that 
majestic sign rests upon the habitations, and leads the way of 
Israel still. The whole sacramental host, in its sublime proces- 
sion, and in each of its lowly members, has yet "the Lord going 
before them" for a Leader and Guide, and "the glory of the 
Lord" as a "wall of fire" for their "rear- ward." 

Not one of us is left to choose our own way. Taste, sensibili- 
ties, affections, reason, have their uses, but they are not ade- 



252 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Sei\ 

quate to decide the condition or choose the way which shall best 
subserve the interests of the soul : ' ' The way of man is not in 
himself; it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." 
This Divine oracle is verified in the experience and history of us 
all. In old age, and even at middle life, we look back with as- 
tonishment at the way by which we have come ; our doings and 
our experiences are wonderfully different from all that we had 
purposed and expected. 

A thousand incidents and events over which we had no con- 
trol, have, as it were, impinged against us, and turned us from 
the intended course; and the point we have now reached is 
manifestly the resultant of forces external to ourselves, and high 
above ail human calculations. 

The counsel and the hand of God shapes the lot of us all : and 
the very ' ' steps' ' of the good man are ordered by the Lord. 
This is true in a manifold sense. As it respects the path of 
duty, God leads his people by his revealed will in the Scriptures, 
and by the gracious influences of his Spirit in their hearts : and 
as it regards their outward circumstances and condition, he leads 
them by providential dispensations, which directly and deeply 
affect them in their persons, their property, their friends, their 
reputation — in everything which goes to make up the sum of 
their prosperity or of their affliction. That our worldly lot is 
appointed of the Lord, is a clearly revealed truth of Scripture ; 
and that it exerts a powerful influence in the development and 
formation of character, is an equally certain truth, taught both 
by Scripture and experience. 

2dly. This Divine guidance is exceedingly different from any- 
thing we should expect or desire. That country through which 
the Israelites were led, was one of the most horrid and inhospit- 
able regions of the globe: u a great and terrible wilderness, 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 253 

wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions, and drought, where 
there was no water. ' ' If there had been no other possible route 
by which the land of promise could be reached, we should not 
wonder that this was chosen : but there was another, more direct 
and more easily travelled along the coast of the Mediterranean. 
That, to be sure, was not without its difficulties ; the Philistines 
would have waged war on the people, and for this reason, ( we 
are told), they took a different direction, lest seeing war so soon 
after departing from Egypt, they should " repent" and re- 
turn. 

Comparing the whole difficulties of the two roads, it is certain 
that the one selected was by far the most painful and trying to 
flesh and sense, and one that would assuredly have been rejected 
by man's unaided reason. Yet it was chosen of God as best for 
the purpose which he had in view. If the bodily comfort and 
temporal convenience of Israel, had been his aim, his procedure 
would, doubtless, have been very different; but designing to 
improve their character, and to prepare them for a high mission 
and destiny, he led them through scenes of trial, and ex- 
posed them to hardships, which served as a discipline for the 
correction of their faults and the development of their virtues. 

But while this was his purpose, their thoughts and expecta- 
tions were different. Uppermost in their minds was the idea 
of getting possession of Canaan, that goodly land of wealth, and 
beauty, and luxury ; foremost in the thoughts of God, was the 
determination to make them fit for it. Hence the record of 
cross-purposes which their history perpetuates. They were con- 
tinually surprised, perplexed, and angered even by the doings 
of God. It seemed to them, at times, as if he had made the 
greatest possible mistakes, and the acts of his providence were 

in the most absolute contradiction to the word of his promise. 

22 



254 TRUTH IN love. [Ser, 

They grew impatient — " their soul was much discouraged be- 
cause of the way;" they murmured, they broke out in open 
mutiny against his leadership. Their wishes were not at one 
with God's purposes, and this was the root of all their troubles. 
It is the same with ourselves. Two things conspire to make us 
think strange of God's providential dealings. One of these is 
our natural and selfish desire of ease and prosperity. We not 
only desire, but, setting out in life, we expect to pursue the even 
tenor of our way, enjoying a steady flow of success and happi- 
ness. When this delusive hope is dissipated by the rude blasts 
of adversity, we take it greatly to heart ; and if we do not in- 
dulge hard thoughts of God, we wonder very much that he 
should do as he does ; and instead of coming directly to the con- 
clusion that our character requires the discipline of these se- 
vere providences, we look intently at the second causes — the 
agents and instrumentalities which have occasioned our suffering 
alid disappointment, and vent on them our regrets or reproaches. 
If men have injured us, our indignation against them prevents 
the recognition of Him who hath, at least by his permissive de- 
cree, commissioned them as his instruments. Few of us, I fear, 
have the piety of David, who, when Shimei cursed, said u Let 
him alone, for it may be the Lord hath bidden him." 

To our selfish love of ease and prosperity must be added the 
consideration of our ignorance. We know but little either of 
ourselves or of God. Our weaknesses, faults, dangers, are, in a 
great degree, hidden from our view. "Who can understand his 
errors?" Ignorant of what we are, we are equally so in refer- 
ence to what we need, and, most of all, ignorant of the best and 
most effectual processes and means by which our character may 
be improved and our dangers escaped. Not only are our under- 
standings limited, as those of creatures must needs be, but our 






XVI. ] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 255 

minds are blinded by self-love, prejudice, and pride : and no- 
thing is more certain than that if we were left to prescribe for 
our own case, and choose our own way, we would commit the 
most egregious and fatal blunders. 

Looking down from above, the Omniscient Eye sees us just as 
we are ; it beholds what is within, and around, and before us ; 
and with infallible certainty it appoints the treatment and disci- 
pline which the case demands. Of course the appointments of 
Infinite Wisdom do not move in the same plane with the wishes 
and purposes of our darkened understandings and selfish hearts. 
His thoughts are not our thoughts, neither are his ways our 
ways : u I will bring," saith he, " the blind by a way that they 
knew not ; I will lead them in paths that they have not known : 
I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things 
straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake 
them." 

Informed of this beforehand, we ought not to be astonished 
at anything which befalls us in the unfoldings of providence : we 
should not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which tries 
us, as though some strange thing happened to us : yet we are 
continually doing so, and are thereby showing how ignorant we 
are of the plans and principles of that holy and gracious provi- 
dence which God exercises over his children and his church. 

3. A third characteristic of his guidance and discipline is its 
severity. It is distressing to the flesh; it wounds most pain- 
fully our sensibilities : it is often so contrived as to strike the 
most tender point ; it smites down the object of our peculiar 
idolatry. The great and terrible wilderness, the drought, the 
fiery serpents, and the scorpions, have their several antitypes in 
the experience of believers still. Under its ordinary and inva- 
riable conditions, their life is one of severe and ceaseless disci- 



256 truth in love. [Ser. 

pline. Its labours, temptations, difficulties, disappointments, 
are more than a school of instruction ; they are a gymnasium 
for exercise and training, in which the members and faculties of 
the spiritual man are developed and strengthened by being 
stretched to their utmost tension. The daily marches of Israel 
over the hot sands of the desert were a weariness of the flesh : 
and like to this is the daily routine of our common duties and 
toils, dull through sameness, and tiresome in their ceaseless re- 
currence. The mechanic in his shop, the labourer in the field, 
the mother in her family, the teacher in the school-room, the 
worker in any form of industry, is subjected to a discipline which, 
while not without its attendant pleasures, is wearisome and 
painful to our frail natures. A more comfortless experience is 
symbolized by the long and tedious encampments of Israel in 
the wilderness, when they had nothing to do but wait for the 
motion of the cloudy pillar which bade them strike their tents 
and renew their march. It would seem that in many places 
they tarried for months. This was probably felt to be a greater 
trial than the fatigues of travel. Soldiers grow so weary of the 
monotony and tedium of camp life, as to desire the change even 
of a hurried march, or of a hostile conflict. A calm at sea is 
represented by voyagers as quite insupportable ; a storm would 
almost be welcomed for variety. There is something like this 
in the life of a Christian. He is commanded to stand still, and 
wait patiently the Lord's time. To all appearance, the work of 
God in his own heart, in the church, in the world, is at a stand- 
still ; the tribes of the Lord indolently repose in their tents. 
His ardent spirit grow impatient; he chafes under the restraint, 
and almost questions the wisdom of Him who, from his high 
and mighty throne, directs the movements of his people, and 
sees it as necessary that they should halt at one time, as that 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 257 

they should go forward at another. But if it was fatiguing for 
Israel to march, and even more trying to lie idly in their tents, 
they had a harsher and worse experience when fiery serpents 
stung them, and enemies attacked them, and all manner of posi- 
tive evils befell them. These all are reproduced in the spiritual 
foes which assail the Christian, and in the providential afflictions 
which overtake him. If fiery flying serpents are no more seen, 
the " fiery darts" of an invisible foe are hurled at him, and prin- 
cipalities and powers of evil bring their malice and strategy to ' 
bear upon him. And when, in addition to all that he suffers at 
the hands of them that hate him, God lays upon him the bur- 
den of some temporal calamity, the anguish he endures is terri- 
ble, and a " fiery trial" it is, through which he is caused to 
pass. How such afflictions as his can proceed from love, or tend 
to his advantage, it is impossible to see, and not easy to believe ; 
but in the light of Divine revelation, we know that such is the 
fact. 

4. A fourth and last characteristic of the Divine guidance and 
discipline exercised over Israel, was the supernatural method 
employed to supply their wants. The country through which 
they journeyed produced neither bread nor water adequate to 
their necessities. To all human appearance, they were repeat- 
edly on the point of perishing by famine, or of dying with thirst. 
If it was a necessary incident of travelling through such a country, 
it was none the less a part of God's plan that their wants should 
not be supplied in the natural ^nd ordinary way, as though it 
were by human providence and from common sources, but in a 
manner wholly supernatural, and, up to 'this time, unheard of 
among men : ' c Who brought thee forth water out of the rock 
of flint, and fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy 

fathers knew not. ' ' 
22* 



258 truth in love. [Ser. 

Herein was a deep and divine mystery. "They drank of 
that spiritual rock which followed them, and that rock was 
Christ. ' ' And with respect to the manna — the angels' food, of 
which man did eat — He whom it typified has declared — "Moses 
gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you 
the true bread from heaven. ' ' Their supplies proceeded imme- 
diately — almost visibly — from the hand of God. While he thus 
made them know ' ' that man doth not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord," 
it also taught, in a figure, that the believer's life is "hid with 
Christ in God, ' ' and is nourished by streams which gush from 
the "smitten Rock" of an atoning Saviour, and by a celestial 
manna that daily falls about his habitation. 

When the Hebrews awoke in the morning, they looked around 
their dwellings for the miraculous and heaven-sent food, and 
so were kept in habitual contact with God: and thus he deals 
with believers still. He requires, and, by the methods of his 
providence and grace, compels the Christian to resort to him 
every clay, and to lead a life of actual and conscious dependence 
upon him for heavenly succour and supplies. If infidelity scoffs, 
let it do so ; if the world, grovelling amid carnal pleasures and 
sensible objects, hears it with scornful incredulity, we must en- 
dure it ; but it is a fact, that the life which the Christian lives 
on earth involves an element of the supernatural, brings him 
into daily contact and communion with God, and is maintained 
by supports, influences, and aliment which do not flow in the 
common channels of human agency, nor proceed from fountains 
of man's creation. The life which he lives in the flesh, is a life 
of faith on the Son of God : and he comes to look as habitually 
to the Throne of Grace for the food and refreshment of the soul, 
as he does to his fields and gardens for ' ' the meat that perisheth. ' ' 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 259 

Such appear to be the principal features of that guidance 
and discipline which God exercises over his people. Being 
in its nature an actual and real interposition which directs their 
way and shapes their lot, it differs exceedingly from all their 
natural desires and expectations, while it bears severely on their 
feelings, and requires them to depend on God, and repair to 
him daily for the supports of their spiritual life. 

II. Why this particular method is adopted is an inquiry which 
naturally arises, and to which we find a very interesting and 
satisfactory answer in the text. In the case of Israel, it was de- 
signed to produce an immediate effect on their character, and a 
future effect on their condition: "That he might humble thee, 
and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end. ' ' 
With you and me, my brethren, God is dealing in the same man- 
ner, and for the same purpose. With respect to our character, 
the design and tendency of Divine discipline is to produce the 
twofold effect of humility and probation. Under the providence 
of God, all men are proved. If the spirit of faith and submis- 
sion exists in their hearts, trial brings it to the surface, shows 
to themselves and others what manner of men they are, and at 
the same time strengthens the gracious principle which it dis- 
plays. If the spirit of unbelief and rebellion lurk within, pro- 
bation strips off the mask ; and that which before was hidden 
comes forth in words of murmuring and blasphemy, and in acts 
of open disobedience and revolt. It does not make a man 
wicked, but only shows him to be 'what he actually is. 

Nearly the entire multitude of those who came out of Egypt 
appear to have been of this character, and after they had, amidst 
a scene of unparalleled mercies and judgments, disclosed their 
unbelief and rebellion, they were solemnly excluded from Canaan, 



260 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

and doomed to drag out a wretched existence and leave their 
bones in the desert. On others, the discipline of the wilderness 
had a different effect, especially on those who were children at 
the time of the Exodus, and who had grown up to maturity 
under the influences and amid the scenes of that long and won- 
drous journey. With few exceptions, the nation was composed 
of these, at the time this address was made to Israel. They had 
been humbled as well as proved ; their spirit was chastened and 
subdued. They were schooled to the habit of renouncing self 
and depending on God ; and thus they were, in a measure, pre- 
pared for that release from the discipline of toil and sorrow, 
which awaited them in Canaan. The church of Christ, and each 
of its members, is now undergoing a similar process to its pre- 
paration for a like glorious deliverance. Through the valley of 
humiliation we journey to the mountains of the heavenly Zion 
humbled first, to be afterwards and for ever exalted. 

We need to be humbled. We all need it more than we are 
willing to confess, or are consciously aware. Proud self-reliance 
is the besetting sin of apostate humanity. The desire to be " as 
gods' ' was the door through which temptation entered, and ever 
since men naturally wish and try to be independent of their 
Maker. They trust in their own hearts, in an arm of flesh, in 
the sagacity of human reason, in the efficiency of second causes, 
rather than in the wisdom, the power, the providence, the re- 
velations of God. So far as this goes, it is atheism ; it is the 
insane and wicked attempt of a fallen creature to be a god unto 
himself. It is pride in its most offensive shape. Grod abhors ■ 
it. He sets himself, in the dispensations of his providence, by 
the influences of his grace, by the solemn commands of his word, 
to condemn, and mortify, and root it out of our hearts. This 
aim he steadily pursues from the hour he first begins to deal 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 261 

with any of us in a specially gracious way, till the pilgrimage of 
life is closed. 

Humility is the sense of our dependence on God ; and this we 
feel when under the discipline of his providence. In sickness, 
when flesh and heart fail us ; in financial reverses, when our 
shrewdest calculations are proved to be great mistakes ; in po- 
litical convulsions, like that which is now sweeping over the land 
and threatening to remove "the foundations of many genera- 
tions ;" in the trying interval of waiting, which separates 
between the time of our spiritual seed-sowing and the season of 
ingathering, when it seems as if we had laboured in vain and 
spent our strength for naught, — we are made to feel our weak- 
ness, to confess our ignorance, and, in the sense of absolute de- 
pendence, to place our only trust in God. If we understood and 
remembered this better, we should not wonder and complain so 
much of his providences. What he designs is to humble us, 
and this requires severe processes, and in some more than in 
others. 

It required a schooling of forty years in the case of the Jews : 
it may take an equal, or even longer term with us; but the 
lesson is so valuable, the attainment so high, that it is cheap at 
any cost. Precious in itself, it is even more so in reference to 
what comes after, and is made to depend upon it. This is so 
glorious, that it may reconcile us a thousand times to the toil 
and pain by which it is preceded and purchased. God " hum- 
bles" us now, that he u may do us good at our latter end." 

Our trials and disappointments and sorrows are but the training 
of the school-boy which fits him for the dignified and useful em- 
ployments of manhood ; the education of the heir for the use 
and management of his estate. During the period of his mi- 
nority he differs nothing from a servant, though he be lord of 



262 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

all, but is under tutors and governors till the time appointed of 
the Father. 

When that arrives, he enters on his possessions and enjoys 
his hereditary rights. The method of grace is in line with these 
earthly analogies : and in drawing to a close, I would bring this 
delightful truth to bear as a motive power on the heart and 
life. 

1. Use it as a key to the mystery of providence. If we did 
not know what God was aiming at in the dispensations of his 
providence, we should be hopelessly perplexed. Apart from 
the glorious immortality which awaits believers in another world, 
it would be impossible to explain his dealings with them in this. 
Informed that he is proving, humbling, and otherwise educating 
them on earth, with a view to exalt them to thrones of glory in 
heaven, we can see the adaptation of means to ends, and, in 
some degree at least, comprehend and justify the ways of God 
to man. And what we know not now, we shall know hereafter, 
when the end is reached, and the purposes of God are all accom- 
plished. Till then we may cheerfully rest in his wisdom and 
love, assured that in one way or another, and sooner or later, 
"all things work together for good to them that love God, to 
them who are the called according to his purpose. ' ' 

2. The hope of that good which God will do to us at our latter 
end should not only reconcile us to the trials of our pilgrimage, 
but fill our hearts with holy joy. 

The language in its naked simplicity is most beautiful and at- 
tractive — "To do thee good." 

It is good that shall be done to us, and it is God that will do 
it : it will therefore be certainly and effectually done. He will 
do good to the soul, in its perfect purity and immortal life ; and 
to the body in its resurrection, in the likeness of its Redeemer's 



XVI.] DIVINE GUIDANCE AND DISCIPLINE. 263 

glorified flesh : to both in their eternal union with one another 
and with himself. He will do us good at our ' ' latter end. ' ' 
The good he now does to us is not small ; but comparatively, it 
is so little that all good is spoken of as future. Past good is 
pleasant in the remembrance ; present good is sweet to experi- 
ence : but infinitely more important than either, is the coming 
good which God will do at our latter end, in death, and to all 
eternity. 

What in particular it is, doth not appear. That goodly land 
into which Israel entered with shouts and songs, was its type, — 
a land of shady bowers, of enchanting landscapes, of crystal foun- 
tains, and delicious fruits. That was a paradise ; but this is a 
better country, that is, a heavenly, in which those who have come 
out from so severe a bondage ' ' shall hunger no more, neither 
thirst any more ; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any 
heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall 
feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters : 
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. ' ' 



264 truth in love. {Ser. 



SERMON XVII. 

THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 

Solomon's Song ii. 4. — He brought me to the banqueting- 
house, and his banner over me was Love. 

A deeply spiritual mind is the best interpreter of this Divine 
song. To the earthly and carnal, profoundly ignorant as they 
are of the holy delights of communion with Christ, its meaning 
is hid, and the drapery of natural relations and endearments in 
which it is clothed might even prove ' ' a savour of death unto 
death," exciting unholy desire, instead of lifting the soul to fel- 
lowship with Heaven. The parabolic dress thrown around the 
doctrines and discourses of the Saviour attracted and impressed 
the teachable and the believing, while it concealed the mysteries of 
the kingdom of heaven from those of a different spirit. It may 
be that the images and expressions of human love, which, even 
in the exaggeration and profusion of Oriental poetry, abound in 
this singular song, have been abused to foster other emotions 
than those which the Spirit of inspiration intended : and we 
know that infidel objectors have sneered at the Volume which 
contains such a book. But if this were sufficient reason for dis- 
placing it from the canon of Scripture, no part of the Bible 
would be left, since, from Genesis to Revelation, it has been all 



XVII. ] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 265 

assailed by the same parties, and for the like reasons. To neu- 
tralize such cavils, and to prove the real tendency and use of 
this part of Scripture, it is enough to know that men who lived 
in closest fellowship with God have not only received this Song 
of Songs as a portion of his revealed will, but have found in it 
the peculiar nourishment of their spiritual life. To them, as 
Hengstenberg expresses it, l c all nature is, as it were, turned into 
spirit : Whoso has made the Song of Songs a part of his very 
flesh and blood, must look on nature with other eyes. Even the 
human body is glorified in this poem."* 

No book of Scripture abounds so much in allusions to natural 
objects, or so constantly makes them the vehicle of spiritual 
truths. Walking amid its gardens of spices and flowers, where 
every image that greets the senses is most agreeable, it is like a 
return to the primitive Eden of the unfallen race, where every 
tree that was pleasant to the eyes and good for food surrounded 
the innocent and holy pair, and at set seasons God, their Maker, 
met and communed with them. Such it was to Samuel Ruther- 
ford in the dark days of Scottish persecutions ; and to Jonathan 
Edwards, whose metaphysical acumen was fully equalled by the 
depth of his devotion ; and to the seraphic McCheyne, who, as 
it is said, had scarce left himself a text of its good matter from 
which he had not preached. This is sufficiently accounted for 
by the fact that its general theme, according to all evangelical 
interpreters, is the intimate union and mutual love of Christ 
and the church. 

Than this no subject is more tender and inspiring. The Solo- 
mon to whom its imagery applies is no earthly monarch, but 
that heavenly Prince of peace of whom the son and successor 
of David was an eminent type. The newly married husband 

* P. 279, 
23 



266 truth in love. [Ser. 

whom lie represents is the Bridegroom of the church, and the 
fair one in whom he sees no blemish, is she whom his everlasting 
love elected, his precious blood washed, and the robe of his right- 
eousness and grace adorned. Of the sacred union thus esta- 
blished, and the tender endearments thence arising, the passage 
before us is one of the most beautiful and suggestive expressions. 
It is the grateful, admiring, and delighted language of the church 
proclaiming the goodness and grace of her kingly husband and 
Lord. ' ' He brought me, ' ' &c. 

Our meditations may take their form from the two principal 
terms and figures which give shape to the text. A banqueting- 
house and a banner, though seemingly without natural connec- 
tion, are significant of facts and ideas which meet and harmonize 
in the spiritual mystery of " Christ and the church.' ' 

I. In the first place, the church acknowledges the gracious and 
blessed estate in which she finds herself and indicates the agency 
by which she was introduced to it ' ' He brought me to his ban- 
queting -house. ' ' 

We would not found a doctrine on so slender a basis as a poeti- 
cal figure, but we cannot fail to observe the accordance between 
the form of speech here used and the teaching of Scripture in 
reference to that efficacious grace of God, which translates the 
soul into the kingdom of his dear Son. The love of God is glo- 
riously displayed in making the provision of salvation, erecting 
the banqueting-house, and spreading the table with all that de- 
lights the taste and satisfies the hunger of our immortal nature. 
This was much, but love took a farther step when God proclaimed 
a universal invitation to famishing sinners to come in, saying : 
" My oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are now 
ready ; come to the feast. ' ' 

Can love go farther? Human love cannot, but God's can. 



XVII.] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 267 

His table must be. furnished with guests, and when words fail 
he sends forth an effectual power which goes to the delaying and 
reluctant creatures, who, if left to themselves, would "perish 
in their sin," and " compels them to come in." The word is 
scriptural, and need not alarm us. The compulsion meant is 
not applied to the body, nor to the mind, in such a way as to 
impair its most perfect liberty of choice. The gracious influ- 
ence which Grod exerts penetrates, if I may so speak, deeper 
into human nature than the will. It enlightens the eyes of the 
understanding and renews the heart, and then the will, accord- 
ing to the law of its action, follows the decisions of the judg- 
ment and the impulse of the affections. Thus drawn by gracious 
influence and cords of love we yet come freely. Made willing 
in the day of his power, we embrace the salvation of Christ and 
bow at his feet. 

The mode of this divine operation is a mystery. The breath- 
ing of the Spirit is like the movement of the wind, of which we 
cannot tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth. No meta- 
physics can uncover the point of contact between the divine and 
the human spirit which issues in the soul's transition from its 
native condition of death to life and joy in Christ, but the 
blessed fact is certain, and is the form of love which, above 
others, melts the heart and fills it with adoring wonder. The 
element of its peculiar power is that it links the love of Grod 
with ourselves. We admire that love as providing salvation, 
and in the catholic regard it has to all the world ; and it does 
not appear altogether marvellous that other persons should be 
the subjects of its converting power, but the mystery of love is, 
that we in our separate individuality, we, in all our demerit and 
our sin, should be called to the knowledge of Jesus and the em- 
brace of salvation ! This mystery which we can only refer to 



268 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

the sovereign good pleasure of Grod, is that which dissolves the 
heart in penitential tears and adoring thankfulness. 

" Why was I made to hear thy voice, 
And enter while there's room ; 
When thousands make a wretched choice, 
And rather starve than come ;" 

is a question which many a wondering disciple has asked, and to 
which better answer was never found than that we have so often 
sung in the banqueting-house of our Saviour-King : 

"'Twas the same love that spread the feast, 
That sweetly forced us in : 
Else we had still refused to taste, 
And perished in our sin." 

The fervour of these grateful emotions is further intensified 
by the happy state and blessed experiences to which the called 
of God are introduced. The symbol of these is the banqueting- 
house of the church's adorable Head and Husband. Of earthly 
delights the scene and circumstances which the figure suggests 
are, perhaps, the highest type. Rich attire, congenial associa- 
tions, enchanting music, delicious viands, and the cordial wel- 
come of an esteemed and distinguished host, present an attrac- 
tion which the " lovers of pleasure" pronounce their "chief 

joy." 

Haman esteemed himself the happiest of mortals, when, on 
successive days, the beautiful queen of Ahasuerus called him to 
the banquet of wine which she had prepared. But a nobler 
than Esther, a greater than Solomon is here. The King of 
glory spreads his table, and opens his door, and issues his invi- 
tations. The pagan divinities were fabled to feast on ambrosia, 
and to drink nectar; and Milton describes the pleasures of 



XVII. ] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 269 

l< divine philosophy" ' as a "perpetual feast of neetared sweets, 
where no crude surfeit reigns. ' ' But there is a diviner luxury. 
Beyond the pleasures of taste, more pure and satisfying than 
those of reason, are the joys of our spiritual being. The sweet- 
est luxury and the fullest contentment is that of the soul, when 
it is "satisfied with the fatness of God's house., and drinks of 
the river of his pleasures." This, in very deed, is a "perpe- 
tual feast. ' ' in which satisfaction is not satiety, but that thirst- 
ing no more for other streams which Jesus promised to those 
who should drink the water of life, 

As no man who has drunk old wine straightway desireth new, 
because the old is better, so with those who have been intro- 
duced into the gracious state of guests in the house of God. 
Worldly pleasures become insipid, and the "pleasures of sin ; ' 
are disgusting ; and the new nature craves and delights in the 
supplies which Christ affords. 

If from generals we descend to particulars, these supplies 
consist in such sweet experiences as peace of conscience, com- 
munion with saints, the witnessing and sealing grace of the Com- 
forter, responding in the heart to the fatherly relation and love 
of God. the hope of everlasting life, and under all these spiri- 
tual and heavenly joys the alleviation of earthly sorrows, and 
the lightening of life's burdens. "When we go into the banquet- 
ing-house of Jesus he comes into our hearts with all the train of 
his gifts and graces, and that sweet figure which represents him 
as supping with us. and we with him. becomes a divine reality. 
Oh. brethren, you know there is a direct enjoying of Jesus 
Christ, a tasting and seeing that the Lord is gracious, in acts of 
faith, and prayer, and holy communion. 

In a degree this is the habitual experience of those who have 
to the saving knowledge of Christ ; but many things in 



270 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

the imperfection of this probationary life tend to depress and 
diminish these holy enjoyments, and the presence and urgency 
of material things intercept the vision of him i ' who is altoge- 
ther lovely. ' ' 

To indemnify us for this loss, which in our present condition 
appears inevitable, Christ has appointed times and seasons at 
which he invites us to special and uninterrupted communion 
with himself, and has established ordinances of worship through 
which the special communications of his grace are made. These 
are resting-places in the weary journey of life ; oases in the 
sandy desert, like that to which Israel came at Elim, where 
were twelve wells of water from which they slaked their thirst, 
and threescore and ten palm-trees beneath whose grateful shade 
they reposed. This delight enjoyed in sacramental ordinances, 
which represent, and seal, and give the blessing and joy of sal- 
vation, most exactly and fully realizes the description of the text. 
Then and there it is that the happy and thankful Christian 
exclaims: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, 
and his fruit was sweet to my taste. He brought me to the 
banqueting-house, and his banner over me was love. ' ' 

Bunyan, in that wondrous allegory which paints the Chris- 
tian's progress in its successive stages and shifting scenes, de- 
scribes his pilgrim as, at one time, introduced to a building which 
he names the ' ( Palace Beautiful, ' ' in which he saw many won- 
drous sights, and was filled with new and joyous experiences. 

His guides and entertainers were the fair sisters Prudence, 
Piety, and Charity. He sat at a table furnished with fat 
things, and wine that was well refined. At night he slept in 
the chamber of Peace, which opened toward the sun-rising: and 
when it was morning, being conducted to the top of the house, 
and the day being clear, he saw in the distance ' ' a most pleasant 



XVII. ] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 271 

mountainous country, beautified with, woods, vineyards, fruits 
of all sorts, flowers also, with springs and fountains, very delec- 
table to behold. ' ' When told that the name of the country was 
Immanuel's land, "he bethought himself of setting forward, 
and they were willing he should. ' ' In seasons of gracious near- 
ness and merciful visitation, — and most of all in the Holy Sup- 
per — that feast of love, — these experiences of a present salva- 
tion and glimpses of the coming glory are most largely enjoyed. 
It is here the Beloved of our souls meets with us in peculiar 
manifestation, and utters those words of freest welcome — "I am 
come into my garden, my sister, my spouse ; I have gathered 
my myrrh, with my spice : I have eaten my honey-comb with 
my honey : I have drunk my wine with my milk : eat, friends ; 
drink, yea, drink abundantly, beloved. " 

II. Called and brought by his grace into this estate of pecu- 
liar privilege and high spiritual enjoyment, of which a banquet- 
ing-house is the symbol, a somewhat different relation to the 
Redeemer is expressed by the added declaration — ' ' His banner 
over me was Love. ' ' 

Christ has a banner as well as a table, and over all who sit 
down in his banqueting-house, this ensign waves. Like national 
emblems, it too has an inscription. It is but a word, but that is 
significant of all that we are concerned to know. "God is Jove, ' ' 
and "love" is written on the banner of Jesus. On the flags 
which our brave soldiers bear in their long marches, and amid 
the smoke, and fire, and blood of battle-fields, the motto of the 
Union and various patriotic legends are inscribed with curious 
needle-work or in letters of gold. 

The inscription on Immanuel's banner may be conceived of as 
written with the blood which flowed from his veins on the cross. 
It is a blood-stained banner : but while it is the blood of crushed 



272 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

and conquered foes that ' c stains his raiment, " it is the blood of 
the cross that writes Love on the banner that waves over his re- 
deemed people. If we have bowed to his sovereignty and em- 
braced his salvation, such is our happy condition : " His banner 
over us is Love. " The use of banners is natural to mankind. 
They are no relic of barbarism ; but the most civilized nations 
use them, and are most susceptible to their peculiar power. 
This resides in the fact of their being emblems. They are visi- 
ble badges and expressions of great ideas and soul-thrilling sen- 
timents. To the eye of a patriot, the flag of his country em- 
bodies its sovereignty and grandeur, and inspires enthusiastic 
devotion to its cause, and complete identification with its for- 
tunes. As an emblem, it is more potent than cannon to over- 
come the foe, because it acts with moral power on a thousand 
hearts that wield the implements of death. 

In a figurative sense, Christ has a banner — that is to say, there 
is that in his character, the nature of his cause, and the relations 
he sustains to the church and the world, which finds a fit ex- 
pression in such an emblem. Isaiah speaks of Messiah as being 
himself an ensign of the nations in the latter days. " There 
shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand* for an ensign of the 
people : to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glo- 
rious. Elsewhere he is said to have given a banner to his peo- 
ple, and they are called upon to lift it up as a rally ing-point to 
all his friends, and as an image of terror to his foes. 

1st. In the more particular unfolding of its suggestions, I re- 
mark, first, That this banner of love is a pledge of protection to 
all who are found beneath it. Hitherto it has been the happi- 
ness and boast of American citizens, that wherever they wan- 
dered, even to the ends of the earth, and among half-civilized 
nations, the flag of their country was respected, and spread over 






XVII.] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 273 

them the segis of its protection. It carried with it the power 
and sovereignty of a mighty nation ; and they were safe beneath 
its folds. The banner of the cross symbolizes the sovereign rale, 
the almighty power and the universal dominion of the Son of 
God. To him all power in heaven and earth is given : things 
material and things spiritual ; all the agencies and forces of na- 
ture are put under him, to protect his church ; and heaven and 
earth shall sooner pass away than one hair of their head shall 
be touched without his permission : and come what may, no fa- 
tal harm shall befall them. If in fighting his battles they lose 
their life, they shall find it again in life eternal, and shall be re- 
compensed with a martyr's crown of glory. 

This assurance of protection in a world where so many visible 
dangers threaten, is a precious item in the inventory of a be- 
liever's inheritance. It guaranties the absolute safety of the 
soul, now and for ever. It assures us that no temptation shall over- 
take us above that we are able to bear, nor affliction overwhelm 
us with any sorrow which grace cannot assuage, and Heaven can- 
not heal. When we go down into the valley of the shadow of 
death, the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls will be there, with 
his rod and his staff, the one for a support, and the other for a 
banner of defence against all dangers, real or apprehended, which 
the departing spirit fears. Under the " ensign " of our Re- 
deemer's almighty power and quenchless love, we need not stand 
in dread of anything which is to happen. Nothing present or to 
come shall separate us from its protection. In the discharge of 
duty, and in obedience to his will, we may go anywhere, do any- 
thing, run any risk, and the invisible arm of an Almighty De- 
fender will be around us still. A thousand shall fall at thy side, 
and ten thousand at thy right hand ; but deadly harm shall not 
come nigh thee. 



274 truth in love. [Ser. 

"When troubles rise and storms appear, 
There may his children hide ; 
God is a strong pavilion, where 
He makes my soul abide." 

Therefore, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be 
afraid : especially do not permit groundless anxieties and unbe- 
lieving fears to hinder you in your Christian duties, or keep you 
back from daring or doing anything which tends to further the 
kingdom of your Lord, and redounds to his glory. 

2d. In the second place, the banner of love which Jesus Christ 
uplifts before and over his people is the symbol of the aggres- 
sive warfare that he is waging against sin and Satan, for the 
liberation and redemption of an enslaved world. 

National emblems have their greatest use in time of war. 
Carried at the head of an advancing host, as the soldier gazes 
upon the colours that image the nation's power and pride, his 
spirit kindles with patriotic fire, and his heart settles in fixed 
resolve that this banner of beauty and glory shall not trail in the 
dust, nor pass to the hand of a conquering foe. The divinest 
realization of these images exists in the ' ' Holy War ' ' which is 
waged by the c £ Captain of our salvation. ' ' 4 U The Lord is a man 
of war.' ' When, with a high hand and an outstretched arm, 
he led forth his chosen people from the house of their bondage, « 
he went before them in a pillar of cloud and fire : and as the 
tribes were marshalled round the tabernacle in four grand di- 
visions, a ' ' standard ' ' bearing the names and the insignia of 
each was carried before them. The display was imposing and 
sublime : even Balaam, though he came to curse, was transported 
thereby into a lofty strain of prophetic benedictions. The visi- 
ble glory of the cloud and the material ensigns of the tribes have 
disappeared ; but Jesus, the i ' Leader and Commander ' ' of his 



XVII.] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 275 

people, is going before them still, and displaying to the eyes of 
their faith his banner of love. It is the emblem of an extermi- 
nating warfare against sin, and of untold blessings and everlast- 
ing mercy to those who enroll themselves as his followers. Jesus 
is he whom, in the far off visions of faith, the dying Jacob saw, 
when he said — " The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor 
a lawgiver from between his feet till Shiloh come : and unto him 
shall the gathering of the people be." And Isaiah, in those 
later prophecies which unveil so much of Zion's future glory, 
saw Messiah as a warrior coming from Edom, with dyed gar- 
ments from Bozrah, glorious in his apparel, and travelling in the 
greatness of his strength. ' ' Mighty to save his friends, he is 
terrible in vengeance upon his foes. 

Of that sovereign power and universal dominion with which 
the Father has by right invested him, his banner of love is the 
emblem and the pledge that his conquests shall go on till in 
fact as well as in covenant ' ' the heathen are given to him for 
his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his 
possession." Like the wars between Israel and their heathen 
foes, the native dwellers in Canaan, this is one of extermination. 
It admits of neither cessation nor compromise, but must go on 
till there shall come no more to Jerusalem, the uncircumcised 
and the unclean, and the Canaanite shall disappear from the in- 
heritance of God. As it was between Amalek and Israel in the 
desert, so it is between Immanuel and his enemies. Not only 
were those Pagan foes chastised at the time, but " Moses built 
an altar and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi — the Lord my 
banner, because the Lord had sworn that the Lord would have 
war with Amalek from generation to generation." The banner 
under which we fight was never lowered to an enemy. It is in 
the hand of our mighty Leader, who has himself led captivity 



276 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

captive, and planted it in triumph on the strongest hold of the 
adversary. The subjugation of every foe, and the conquest of 
every foot of territory which rightfully belongs to the Son of 
God is simply a question of time. It is foreordained, it is in 
process of accomplishment, and these mighty throes of the na- 
tions do but herald and hasten its coming. The year of jubilee 
is approaching ; the banner of love, already planted on the con- 
tinents and the islands, shall receive the adhesion of every tongue, 
and kindred, and u all flesh shall see the salvation of our God." 

3d. The third and last suggestion we offer regards the rela- 
tion and duty of the church and of individual men to the ban- 
ner which Christ lifts up in the sight of us all. 

The kingly character and office of Jesus powerfully appeals to 
the sentiment of loyalty and love in the hearts of those who 
have already bowed to his rule and embraced his salvation. To 
them, in a very important sense, he entrusts his cause and his 
honour in the world. He puts the blood-stained banner of the 
cross into their hands, and bids them hold it high and bear it 
forward till all the earth shall own its sway. c ' Thou hast given 
a banner to them that fear thee, that it should be displayed be- 
cause of the truth. ' ' Accepting the trust, let us respond with 
love and holy courage: "We will rejoice in thy salvation, and 
in the name of our God we will set up our banners. ' ' The ap- 
peal for sacrifice and service is made to all hearts that are loyal 
to King Jesus. You that are called, and pardoned, and dressed 
in the wedding- garment of his righteousness, and seated in the 
banque ting-house of his love, will you now take the oath of alle- 
giance anew, and with a deeper consecration than ever maintain 
your place in the sacramental host that march to victory and 
glory ? In the ranks of this army there is room, and service, and 
recompense for you all, without respect to age, or sex, or condi- 



XVII. ] THE BANQUET AND THE BANNER. 277 

tion. A willing mind and a loyal heart is the only qualification. 
When the followers of Jesus, in solid phalanx and shining array, 
thus devote themselves to his service, the church will "look forth 
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible 
as an army with banners. ' ' 

When we fall, let it be with our armour on, in the high places 
of the field, and clinging to the standard of our King. It is re- 
lated that a French soldier who fell at Waterloo had grasped the 
flag of his country so tightly in death that when it was sought 
to remove it its captor only succeeded by taking the man and the 
standard, colours and corpse together. Fit emblem this of the 
Christian hero's death. May the like be ours ! From the throne 
of his glory Jesus cries : "Be thou faithful unto death, and I 
will give thee a crown of life." " To him that overcometh will 
I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, 
and am set down with my Father in his throne. ' ' 

To those who as yet sustain a different relation to this " ban- 
ner of love," I present it as an emblem of peace between God 
and men, and invite you " in Christ's stead" to enlist under it. 
With precious blood in crimson lines Love is written on its am- 
pie folds. By the infinite depth of love divine it pleads with 
you, gathering its tender memorials from the garden, the cross, 
and the tomb ! By the pardon, peace, and protection which it 
gives and guaranties, by the assurance of deliverance from your 
dangers, victory over your enemies, and an abundant entrance 
into the honours and joys of an everlasting kingdom of glory, 
you are urged this day to forsake the standard of rebellion and 
rally to that of your Friend and Saviour — the Son of God's de- 
light, the adored of all believers. 

There is room for you ! Room in the Saviour's heart, room 

in the church, room at the communion-table, room in heaven at 
24 



278 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

the marriage-supper of the Lamb. " Come, for all things are 
now ready." " The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let 
him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. 
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. ' ' 

If still you hesitate, let your halting mind be decided by con- 
sidering that you are absolutely shut up to the alternative of 
voluntarily accepting Christ's "banner of love," or of being 
crushed by the iron rod of his power and wrath. " Kiss the 
Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his 
wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their 
trust in him." 



XVIII. 1 FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 279 



SERMON XVIII. 
FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 

1 Cor. xiii. 13. — And now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity, these 
three ; hut the greatest of these is Charity. 

The religion of the Lord Jesus Christ is essentially inward 
and spiritual. " The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, 
but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" — not 
the outward observances of worship, nor the outward acts of 
morality, but those internal principles and affections out of which 
1 ' are the issues of life. ' ' Human character is not words and 
deeds, but the motives and spirit which prompt our speech, and 
are embodied in our acts. The same words may be spoken, and 
the same actions performed from different or opposite motives. 
While, therefore, the outward exhibition of himself which a 
person makes before the world is, in the main, a true exponent 
of what is in his heart, it is not an unerring criterion. Acts of 
devotion and deeds of philanthropy may be performed without 
love either to God or men, and we cannot certainly know whether 
the doer of them is or is not a Christian. Character consists in 
the principles which have their seat in the soul, and are the 
spring and source of conduct. The} 7 are the affections, desires, 
and purposes that govern us, and which cannot be traced to 



280 TRUTH IN love. [Ser. 

anything deeper in our nature than themselves. For this reason 
they are called principles — first elements and fundamental laws 
of character and life. The character of every man is determined 
by the principles, good or bad, that control him: and the Chris- 
tian's character is decided by the graces implanted and nurtured 
in his soul by the Spirit of God. The infallible test which we 
should habitually apply to ourselves is the presence or absence 
of those secret affections and exercises which are revealed alone 
to consciousness and to the Searcher of hearts. Faith, hope, 
charity, and all the train of gracious traits, are not so much the 
evidence as the essence of Christian character ; and it is simply 
impossible that any one should possess them and yet be a stranger 
to the saving grace of God. They are the image of God visibly 
stamped upon our moral being. In the text, three of these hid- 
den roots of piety are grouped together, and assigned a pre-emi- 
nence above all others. After naming the graces of faith, hope, 
and charity, the apostle adds, with rhetorical beauty and signifi- 
cant emphasis, the limiting expression — "these three," intimat- 
ing that no more and no other graces belonged to the same class, 
or deserved the like distinction. 

In one aspect, he puts them all on a level ; in another view, 
he exalts charity above her sisters, faith and hope. 

And this suggests the general arrangement we propose to fol- 
low in this discourse. In the first place, the apostle declares 
that the principles or graces named, are alike and equal in their 
permanency. c l Now abideth Faith, Hope, Charity. ' ' 

In the second place, he asserts that of these three enduring 
elements of Christian experience and life, the crown of pre-emi- 
nent excellence belongs to the last : u The greatest of these is 
Charity." 

1. Let us view them first with respect to the quality in which 



XVIII. ] FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 281 

all agree, that is to say, their permanency. In the broadest and 
most general view, this is a high commendation. That which is 
short-lived is of comparatively little value. Even an object of 
the magnitude and glory of the sun would be unimportant if it 
shone for a day and then went out in eternal darkness. One of 
the most effectual dissuasives which the Bible brings to bear 
against the love of the world, is derived from its transitory na- 
ture and the shortness of human life : and religion derives its 
mightiest enforcement from the immortality of the soul, and the 
eternity of its salvation. Any good thing is important in pro- 
portion as it abides, and that which endures for ever is infinitely 
important. It is therefore no mean commendation which the 
apostle bestows on faith, hope, and charity, when he tells us 
that they abide. Furthermore, that which endures is presumed 
to be excellent in its nature : in fact, endurance is in many cases 
the test of excellence. That which is unsubstantial, shadowy, 
worthless, is short-lived. It perishes with the using; it van- 
ishes away. The dross disappears, and is merged in other sub- 
stances : the pure gold is imperishable : the fleeting cloud is 
driven with the wind, and returns no more ; the mountain whose 
summit it hid abides in everlasting majesty and strength, and 
the star whose radiance it for a moment obstructed, shines on 
through countless years. In like manner, this triad of moral 
virtues and Christian graces assert their superior excellence by 
enduring in the freshness of their vitality throughout all the 
stages of Christian experience, and dispensations of the church, 
and the changes of time. 

In this connexion they are in contrast with the miraculous 
gifts and powers bestowed on the church in the apostolic age. 
Through the supernatural influence of the Spirit, ministers and 

members of the church were enabled to speak with other tongues, 
24* 



282 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Scr. 

to prophesy, to heal the sick, and do many things of like nature. 
The use of these gifts was to secure for the new religion and the 
infant church a speedy and secure establishment in the world. 
They were of great importance for that time, and were, more- 
over, of a showy character, visible .and impressive in their exer- 
cise. They might be, and in some instances — as that of Simon 
the sorcerer — were coveted for selfish ends. They did not enter 
deeply into the inherent constitution and essential life of the 
church; and though commonly exercised by Christians and 
Christian ministers, they were not an infallible index of piety. 
Paul puts the case as conceivable and possible that a person 
might 4 ' speak with tongue of men and of angels, ' ' and yet lack 
the more vital elements of Christian character. Being thus su- 
perficial in their relation to the church, and temporary in their 
use, they passed away: and now there is no man who speaks 
with other than his native tongue, except as he learns it, and no 
worker of miracles is found in the church. Already the time 
has come of which the apostle spoke : ' c Whether there be pro- 
phecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall 
cease ; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. ' ' But 
the passing away of these leaves the deeper foundations of Chris- 
tian experience undisturbed. "Now" — that these things are 
gone — "abideth faith, hope, charity." They enter into the 
vital essence of Christian character, and endure for ever. 

We may also view the permanency of these gracious principles 
in contrast with the external ordinances of worship and institu- 
tions of the church which have undergone great changes already, 
and must needs be subject to yet further mutations, as the church 
advances to her final condition. The Old Testament ritual of 
worship, having fulfilled its purpose as a prophetic shadow of 
better things to come, has been annulled and displaced by the 



XVIII.] FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 283 

rites of our Christian worship. Like a dilapidated building or a 
faded garment, the Jewish forms "decayed and waxed old," 
and in the time of the apostle, were ' ' ready to vanish away. ' ' 
They have now departed ; but the radical principles and vital 
spirit of piety which were embodied in those forms, and after- 
wards, for freer action and wider expansion, were transferred to 
the light and spiritual worship of Christianity, still live. The 
temple, the altar, the victim, the priest, the offerings to God, 
and the gifts to man, which the law prescribed, are seen no 
more ; but the faith which brought the sacrifice, and the hope 
that looked and longed for a coming Redeemer, and the charity 
that showed pity for the poor, in those early days of revelation, 
still abide, and will never fail while God has a dwelling on the 
earth. "Faith, Hope, Charity," these three graces may, like 
the Trinity of Persons in the Godhead, have had a progressive 
revelation in Scripture, and an advancing power in the church ; 
but there never was a time in the past, as there never will be in 
the future, when piety could be cast in any other mould, or dis- 
played in any other forms. To the end of time, and under all 
the changes of outward condition which the church may undergo, 
the people of God will believe, and hope, and love; and all the 
more so as the soul and the chuich approach the perfection of 
the heavenly state. 

There is yet another contrast, which may, perhaps, be admitted 
in this connexion, between the graces named in the text, and 
some other forms and phases of Christian experience, which pe- 
culiarly belong to certain stages of the believer's progress, and 
are affected by his outward conditions. The babe in Christ, and 
the veteran soldier of the cross look on the Christian life from 
widely different points of view, and, in many respects, with dif- 
ferent feelings. One is warm with the glow of a new experience, 



284 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

and happily ignorant of the deep tribulation through which the 
soul must enter the kingdom of God. Human imperfection 
mingles with and tinges not a little of the convert's first experi- 
ences, and thus necessitates a series of changes in views and feel- 
ings that are often wondered at and lamented as a departure 
from the soul's first love, when they are only its gradual settling 
down from trust in flitting frames and feelings upon the immovable 
foundations of ' ' faith, hope, and charity. ' ' The aged and deeply- 
experienced Christian feels that he has both lost and gained in 
many respects. He has parted with both hopes and apprehen- 
sions that are incidental to the commencement of a new life ; 
and he has gained in strength of religious principle and stability 
of experience. The faith whose first trembling exercise was the 
embrace of Jesus Christ for pardon and peace, has strengthened 
and grown to be " the substance of things hoped for, and the 
evidence of things not seen, ' ' taking into its wide survey the 
whole firmament of revelation. The hope which, at its first ris- 
ing in the heart, had primary regard to the negative good of es- 
cape from wrath, has come to look for the positive blessings 
promised to the faithful, and to wait with patience for their 
enjoyment. 

And love, if it has lost somewhat of its freshness, has gained 
in steadiness, and depth, and practical fruits. Beneath all the 
changes and disturbances that take place upon the surface of 
our natural feelings and religious sensibilities, these radical prin- 
ciples of the Christian life abide and gather strength. Even 
those storms of sorrow and temptation which sweep away our 
pleasant thoughts and feelings, root these principles the more 
firmly in our souls, and we are gaining ground even when in fear 
of losing every thing. 

If we pass over that wider interval which separates the expe- 



XVIII.] FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 285 

rience of earth from that of heaven, it is certain that much that 
now enters largely into our exercises will be left behind. All of 
religious experience that supposes " temptation without and cor- 
ruption within," all that is peculiar to a state of probation, toil, 
and suffering, will disappear with its cause and occasion. In 
that blessed state from which pain, and death, and every form 
of evil are banished, the passive virtues of patience and long- 
suffering will not be in requisition. And where there is no sin 
there will be no penitence, and those who have no unsupplied 
wants will feel no need of prayer. 

Yet piety, in its absolute essence, will be the same in heaven 
as it is on earth, and there is a sense in which not love only, but 
faith and hope will flourish in immortal strength. In this mani- 
fold sense do these graces abide, the life, adornment, and bless- 
ing of the soul, the seal of God's children, the mark of the true 
church, when dispensations of religion have changed, and mira- 
culous gifts have disappeared, and the exercises of an immature 
experience have been displaced by the completeness of the per- 
fect man in Jesus Christ. They are the safest as well as the 
best treasure a man can possess. All else we have may be irre- 
coverably lost. Our property may make to itself wings and fly 
away, our health may fail, our reputation may be tarnished, our 
friends may withdraw their affection or go to their long home in 
the grave. If our happiness is bound up in these things, we 
may in a moment be impoverished and undone. But if the 
Spirit of God dwell in us, and attest his presence by the pre- 
cious fruits of faith, hope, and charity, nothing present or to 
come shall rob us of our portion. 

Under every change of outward condition, amid social and 
political agitations which shake or subvert the £ ' foundations of 
many generations, ' ' and even under the invasion and stroke of 



286 truth in love. [Ser. 

death which penetrates to the c £ dividing asunder of soul and 
spirit," these vital graces abide, inwrought with the moral na- 
ture and inseparable from it for ever. 

Of which truth the obvious application is, that we should cul- 
tivate these imperishable virtues which of themselves can bless 
the soul, and of which nothing in life, death, or eternity can de- 
prive as. 

2. Exalting "these three," above all other graces, the apos- 
tle makes an election of one from among the rest, and puts the 
crown of supreme excellence on the head of charity. They all 
abide, and they are all great, but "the greatest of these is 
charity. ' - 

A parallel to this we have in the intercourse of our Lord with 
his twelve disciples. He loved them all, but bestowed special 
privileges and honours on " Peter, and James, and John." 
These three were with him when he raised the daughter of 
Jairus from the dead, in the glory of his transfiguration, and in 
the hour of his deepest agony in the garden. Yet in this inner 
and selectest circle was the one disciple " whom he loved," and 
whose head reposed on his bosom, in nearest intimacy and holi- 
est affection. And it helps our parallel to remember that this 
favoured disciple was, above the rest and above other men, the 
apostle of love, the incarnation and pattern of that divine cha- 
rity to which the apostle gives the pre-eminence. It is not for 
us to question this pronounced judgment of inspiration, and all 
we may properly do is to inquire into its grounds and reasons, 
so far as they may be gathered from the teachings of Scripture 
and the nature of the thing. 

The whole chapter is in praise of charity, whose excellence the 
apostle exhibits by expatiating at length and in great beauty of 
language on its precious fruits, and by giving it the preference, 



XVIII.] FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 287 

not only over supernatural gifts and miraculous powers, but over 
other Christian graces. The climax of his encomium is reached 
when he assigns it a higher place than the noble graces of faith 
and hope. It is greater than these. He not only implies but 
affirms that these are great, and all Scripture bears witness to 
the same point. 

In one place he groups them all together, describing each by 
its peculiar fruit, remembering without ceasing, and with grati- 
tude to God c ' the work of faith, and labour of love, and patience 
of hope" which were seen in his Thessalonian converts. A 
great many very weighty and very delightful things are said of 
hope. Believers are ' i begotten' ' thereto by the resurrection of 
Jesus, and in the regeneration of their own souls. The ' c God 
of hope' ' first inspires this divine affection in their minds, and 
then employs it as an instrument of sanctification to fit them for 
dwelling with the Lord, which is the object of their hope. On 
this stormy sea of life, where they are buffeted by the waves of 
temptation and sorrow, Christians "are saved by hope," which 
is an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast. It is a pre- 
cious grace, but charity is greater. The apostle goes further, 
and gives it the preference even to faith, which performs an office 
so peculiar in the salvation of the soul, and of whose power and 
working the Scriptures have so much to say. 

The followers of Christ are named believers from their faith. 
Faith receives Christ for justification, and is the radical grace 
which sets even love in motion. We believe before we love, and 
does not the apostle tell us that "faith worketh by love?" 

Faith is the root principle of the Christian life, the hand by 
which we receive Christ for pardon, and the bond of union which 
keeps the soul in contact with the sanctifying power of the cross. 
We are justified by faith, we stand by faith, we walk by faith, 



288 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 
One of the longest chapters of the New Testament is an elabo- 
rate commendation of faith, based on the example of great be- 
lievers in the ages past. The eleventh of Hebrews is longer 
than this thirteenth of Corinthians; yet, after all, and in ex- 
press language, the apostle declares that love "is greater than 
faith. ' ' How and why this is, is an interesting and legitimate 
inquiry. 

1st. The first consideration that tends to enlighten the subject 
is derived from the intrinsic nature of love as an affection of the 
mind. It contains more elements of moral and spiritual excel- 
lence than either faith or hope. It more directly and deeply in- 
volves the exercises of the heart than faith, and it is more dis- 
interested than hope, which expects and desires future good. 
Faith believes what God reveals, and hope looks for what God 
promises. Each is a moral virtue, and well-pleasing to God, but 
neither nor both together contain so much of what is all accept- 
able to God, and like God, as love. In God there is neither faith 
nor hope. The one is incompatible with his knowledge, and the 
other with his infinite and perfect bliss. He does not believe : 
he knows. He does not hope for anything, for he possesses all 
things ; but " God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth 
in God, and God in him." The completest image of divinity 
which the soul of man can receive is the inspiration of that love 
which abides infinitely and for ever in the Godhead. Add to 
this that faith and hope are but organs of reception, hands we 
stretch out to take the blessings which come to us from above 
and from afar, while love flows forth in generous admiration of 
another's excellence, or in sympathetic ministries to his griefs 
and needs, or rises in spontaneous adoration of the uncreated 
and infinite holiness and beauty of the Lord. It would thus ap- 



XVIII.] FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 289 

pear that in its inherent nature love is a more excellent attribute 
of character than either faith or hope. 

2d. In the second place love is the greatest, because it is the 
germ and principle of all moral and religious duties. This can- 
not be said of faith and hope, or of any other virtue of Chris- 
tian character or grace of the Spirit. They do not contain love, 
but love contains them, as the apostle intimates in saying that 
1 ' Charity believeth and hope th all things. ' ' Love nurtures 
every other grace, and prompts to the discharge of every duty we 
owe either to God or men. It is the genial atmosphere and sun- 
shine in which the graces grow and nourish. A soul completely 
and absolutely subjected to the control of love would be impelled 
spontaneously to the performance of every act which the Divine 
law requires to be done to ourselves, to others, or to God. Love 
is the substance of both tables of the law. It comprehends all 
morality and all religion. There is not one particular belonging 
to each which has not its root in this divine affection, which re- 
strains from all evil and prompts all goodness. 

To the inquiring lawyer Jesus said, "Thou shalt love the 
Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with 
all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And 
the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy- 
self. On these two commandments hang all the law and the 
prophets." The entire revelations of God, in law, and pro- 
phecy, and gospel, by Moses and by Christ, in so far as they 
bear on human duty, are comprised and condensed into the sin- 
gle element of love. Eden, Sinai, Calvary utter the same voice. 
Supreme love to God, complacent love of the brethren, forgiv- 
ing love of our enemies, and benevolent love to all our kind, is the 
4 c whole duty of man. ' ' To this grace of the Christian heart must 

therefore be assigned the crown of an unquestioned supremacy. 
25 



290 TRUTH IN LOVE. [Ser. 

3d. In the third place, its right to this pre-eminence is esta- 
blished by the peculiar difficulties which its exercise involves. 
There are difficulties which impede the exercise of faith and de- 
pressing influences with which hope has to contend. But neither 
of them is beset with so many and so great impediments as love. 

As directed towards God, there is, indeed, nothing to hinder 
its exercise but the native alienation of our hearts from what is 
good. God is infinitely worthy of our supreme and constant 
affection, and every act of his providence and gift of his grace 
heightens his claim to our love. But the case is different in 
that other and wide sphere of duty in which it is not God but 
men that claim our love. Its exercise is exceedingly difficult 
and continually obstructed by impediments without and within. 
Our own selfishness is an antagonistic force that tends to repress 
and quench love and to dry up the fountains of all active sympa- 
thy and friendship. It costs time, and thought, and trouble, 
and money, to give our love expression and make it effective in 
promoting the happiness of our neighbours and brethren. If it 
overcomes these opposing influences, its power is great and its 
excellence is demonstrated. And while the selfishness of our 
natures is ever a clogging weight on the wings of charity, there 
is much in our relations to others and our circumstances in life 
that tends to chill the ardour of our affection, and which, unless 
it be firmly resisted, will end in making us thoroughly selfish, and 
in shutting us up within the narrow sphere of our own personal 
interests. The persons who claim our love are imperfect ; they 
may have glaring faults ; they slight or seem to slight us. The 
multitude around us rush on in pursuit of their own objects, re- 
gardless of ours, and perhaps willing to sacrifice our interests 
to their own. In such circumstances I need not tell you it is 
hard to maintain love in vigorous and unabated activity and fer- 



XVIII.] FAITH, HOPE, AND CHARITY. 291 

your. If it triumph over such impediments, and live in the 
midst of these chilling damps, its mighty power is proved, and its 
title to the throne among the graces is well established. 

4th. This title has a further and fourth support in the fact 
that love, in its obligation and the sphere of its exercise, is less 
affected than other graces by the changing relations and condi- 
tion of men. Love is the law alike of fallen and unfallen crea- 
tures, of sinners who are in process of redemption, and of "the 
spirits of just men made perfect. ' ' The same cannot be said of 
faith, or hope, or patience ; certainly not, in the same unquali- 
fied sense. There is a time coming in the experience of the be- 
liever when faith will be changed to sight, and hope be lost in 
fruition, and so far both will cease. In heaven they will not be, 
as they are on earth, the characteristic attributes of the Chris- 
tian's condition, while the only change in love will be its wider 
range, deeper intensity, and more perfect joy. Love is the law 
of angels, it was the law of Paradise ; it is the law of the church 
militant, and will be that of the church triumphant, 

" Where faith and hope are known no more, 
But saints for ever love." 

On such grounds as these the supremacy of love is claimed and 
justified. With two applications we leave the subject. 

1. The first is in the form of inquiry, and for the purpose of 
self-examination. Has love the practical ascendency in our 
hearts which the apostle assigns to it in the ideal character which 
he depicts? Is this theory of the graces actually embodied in 
our lives ? Is love the greatest of our graces ? Is it " the bond 
of perfectness ' ' that ties the robe of Christian virtues about us, 
and arrays the church in the "beautiful garments" of salvation? 
Does "brotherly love" continue? Does it "abound?" Does 



292 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

it break down the barriers of a cold selfishness, and unchristian 
alienations, and wicked resentments? It is a possible thing, 
that instead of being the greatest, it may be about the least of 
our virtues. The amount of our love is the measure of our re- 
ligion. 

2. Our second application is that of the apostle: u Follow 
after charity." It is susceptible of increase, and needs cultiva- 
tion. And because of its supreme excellence, we shall do wisely 
to concentrate our desires and efforts upon it. If it grows, every 
other grace and duty will flourish : and it will grow, if your life 
is one of communion with God, of imitation of Christ, and of 
active endeavours to do good. The grace of God in our redemp- 
tion is the grand argument for the love of the brethren, and of 
all mankind. c ' Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of 
God. And every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth 
God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God ; for God is love." 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 293 



XIX. 

THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS IN ITS RELATION 
TO THEOLOGY. 

An Address before the Society of Inquiry of the Wes- 
tern Theological Seminary, delivered in the First Pres- 
byterian Church of Allegheny, April 15, 1862. 

To the student of theology and the minister of the gospel, 
no subject can be of equal importance with the absolute truth 
and certainty of the doctrines which are taught from the Pro- 
fessor's chair, and delivered from the pulpit; and no questions 
of our day are more keenly debated or more profoundly interest- 
ing than those which, in one relation or another, concern this 
fundamental position. Are the elements of theology fixed or 
fluctuating ? Is it, like other departments of human knowledge, 
a progressive science? 

Are the Scriptures the only infallible rule of faith and prac- 
tice? If this be conceded, then has their sense been so far as- 
certained as to determine and for ever fix the essential and con- 
trolling articles of religious faith ; or, in the progress of learning 
and enlightenment, are we to look for such an insight into their 
" hidden mysteries" as may require the modification, and even 

involve the subversion and relinquishment of existing doctrines 
25* 



294 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

and systems? Or, denying the sufficiency and supreme authority 
of Scripture, are its teachings to be supplemented and explained 
by the oracles of reason? and its plainest utterances to be ac- 
cepted or condemned, according as they commend themselves or 
not to the judgment and moral nature of men? The vital im- 
portance of questions like these, and the zeal with which they 
are mooted in the religious world, have suggested as the particu- 
lar topic of this address, The law of human progress in its rela- 
tion to theology. 

This law, like most others, has both its uses and abuses. By 
some, its announcement will be thought to savour of rationalism 
and heresy. In their view, theology is so completely superna- 
tural, and so fixed and absolute in its form, as embodied in a 
divine revelation, that no law of human progress can reach it, 
or leave any trace upon it whatever. In these, the animus of 
theological conservatism is commendable, and close of kin to 
that holding fast u the form of sound words" which is com- 
manded as a Christian duty ; yet the danger is possible of stick- 
ing in the shell, — that is to say, in the human form and expres- 
sion of a doctrine, — and of losing the kernel of truth. By an- 
other class, this law is hailed with delight. It breaks all fetters, 
is the solvent of all difficulties, and opens before the theological 
explorer an unlimited region, over which he can ramble at will, 
ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of posi- 
tive and final truth. The acquisition of to-day is displaced by 
that of to-morrow, instead of serving as a foundation on which 
to rear a structure which shall never decay, nor require to be 
rebuilt or remodelled. We hope to make it appear both that 
the extreme fear and caution of theological conservatives on the 
one hand, and the rash confidence of radical progressives on the 
other, have no warrant in the law of human progress, when 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 295 

rightly understood and fairly applied to the subject of revealed 
theology. 

Between a right and sound conservatism which holds fast that 
which is good, and the spirit of progress which, in its experi- 
mental efforts to increase the sum of human knowledge, ''proves 
all things " by a candid examination, there is and can be no proper 
antagonism ; they both are grounded in our intellectual and moral 
nature, and are alike and equally necessaiy to any real advance- 
ment in knowledge, or to any improvement in the condition of 
mankind. If the truth already ascertained be not adhered to, 
the mind is adrift on a sea of uncertainties, blown about by every 
wind of doctrine ; and if there be no feeling after the unknown, 
nor tentative handling of the untried, the stock of human ideas 
will not be increased, and the intellect of successive generations 
will never get beyond the limits which the thinking of the past 
has established. It is only in their abuse and extravagance that 
the spirit of conservatism and that of progress come into colli- 
sion, and are to be feared and resisted. The boasted advance 
of theological science in our times is one of the boldest and most 
seductive phases of unbelief. It is thoroughly radical and de- 
structive ; not building on foundations already laid and tested, 
and thus, in the sense of Paul, ' ' going on to perfection, ' ' but 
tearing them up, placing them in new relations, or casting them 
aside, as seems good to the builders on the tower of modern in- 
fidelity. Some of them, in justification of an attempt which im- 
plies the ignorance and childhood of past ages, plead the uncer- 
tain and feeble hold which the most fundamental doctrines of 
Christianity now have on the minds of men. ' ' The brave and 
honest men of the church," complacently assumes one of the 
exponents of liberal Christianity,* "are seekers after fixed truth, 
* Dr. Bellows. 



296 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

rather than possessors of it. . . . The theological mind of the 
world is actually, and by reason of a change in human circum- 
stances, in an unsettled state. ' ' From his point of view, nothing 
is apparent but ' ' the tremulous fluid into which the old theolo- 
gies have dissolved." As, according to a certain theory of the 
physical universe, it has been evolved from a nebulous and va- 
poury substance by the action of natural laws, and has at length 
assumed consistency and definite shape, so it is expected that 
the fragmentary and fugitive elements into which the beliefs of 
the past have been dashed, in an age of free thought and ad- 
vancing intelligence, will after a while crystallize in solid forms, 
and admit of a logical statement. 

"We might join issue with this writer and the whole school of 
progressives, on the question of fact as to the existing condition 
of religious belief, and show reason for thinking that the doubt 
and uncertainty they complain of is mainly confined to themselves. 
We might disclose to them a region where the sun shines in 
unclouded brightness, and no " eclipse, " or even " suspense" 
of faith is occasioned by the mists and vapours which ascend 
from the pride of man's unsanctified heart, and from, the arro- 
gance of that reason which believes nothing on the mere testi- 
mony of Grod. But without urging that the case with the theo- 
logical world is not by any means so bad as it is represented, we 
are constrained to dissent entirely from the assumption which 
underlies all these speculations. Admitting, as is done by the 
school to which reference is made, that the Bible contains a 
revelation from God to teach mankind the way of salvation, it 
appears to us incredible that its fundamental doctrines should 
still be unknown, or be so inadequately understood and stated, 
that future discoveries in the field of Scripture might require 
our present knowledge and beliefs, either to be discarded as 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 297 

falsehoods, or sloughed off as antiquated and useless notions 
whenever the church and the world shall emerge into a higher 
life and a clearer light. 

The law of progress, on which so great reliance is placed for 
discrediting the old and catholic faith of the church, does not 
stand in exactly the same relation to theology as to other depart- 
ments of knowledge, and the true analogies it suggests rather 
support than militate against the permanence and certainty of 
all the foundation truths of religion, as these are apprehended 
by common and candid readers of the Scriptures. 

In every branch of science, whether physical, intellectual, or 
moral, there are fixed data, facts certified by the testimony of 
sense or consciousness, and truths which are self-evident. If 
these are primary lessons taught to children, they are also the 
most important. They are absolutely certain, they are immu- 
table, and they are the basis and condition of all subsequent 
progress. The remotest and grandest results which Newton 
ever reached in applying the calculus to the problems of astro- 
nomy were immediately dependent on the fundamental rules of 
arithmetic which we teach in the primary department of our 
schools ; and with respect to practical and general utility they 
are immeasurably more important than their most abstruse and 
distant applications. 

The progressives, whom we have in mind, are fond of compar- 
ing the history and advancement of the world to the different 
stages of human life, and since, in their judgment, mankind 
have now reached their majority, it is time to put away the 
childish beliefs and crude conceptions of former ages. It is 
readily granted that the difference is great between the know- 
ledge of a man and that of a child, and that in many respects 
experience and education correct and displace early impressions, 



298 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

but there are some impressions and ideas which are never lost 
or rejected. They are the very elements of knowledge, laws of 
thought, germs of all progress, and are so early and completely 
incorporated with the intellectual constitution, that they seem to 
be part of our nature. The material objects which first greet 
the opening senses of a child remain in view till its eyes are 
closed in death, and that belief in the objective reality of the 
material world, which only the folly of idealistic philosophy 
doubts, then takes root, and other elementary convictions are im- 
planted which not only lay the foundation for future acquisi- 
tions, but determine their general nature and their shape. A 
thousand childish opinions and impressions may fade insensibly 
away in the light of an expanding intellect and an enlarged expe- 
rience, but these rudimental ideas and early beliefs abide, and 
the analogy, when fairly interpreted, rather confirms than invali- 
dates the position that the vital and controlling truths of theo- 
logy are permanent and immutable, not only changeless and cer- 
tain in themselves, but also as to their substance and general 
form in the faith of the church. 

But there is nothing that bears with such decisive force on 
this question as the fact that the data of all Christian theology 
are furnished in a positive and supernatural revelation. ' c Ldtera 
scripta manet" (the written letter remains. ) We have a Book 
written in the language of men, containing the verbal expression 
and orderly statement of truth. Claiming our faith in its teach- 
ings on the ground of its divine Authorship, it addresses itself 
to our understanding, and is to be explained in accordance with 
the established laws of human language. Much of it is given in 
the simplest form of composition, in biography and history, and, 
taking it together, the Bible is a plain book, and in point of fact 
is understood in the same way, on vital points, by an overwhelm- 
ing majority of all its readers. 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 299 

Considering the source from which it proceeds, and the pur- 
pose for which it is given, we might expect the truths necessary 
to salvation to underlie all its parts, to be often recurred to, and 
to be embodied in the most explicit announcements. And is not 
this the character of the word of God? That men of equal 
learning and honesty differ in their interpretation and views of 
particular doctrines, and that these differences are regarded as 
of sufficient magnitude to justify the division of the church into 
separate denominations, we know, but it only proves that on 
points of less importance the light of Scripture is not so full 
and clear as in reference to those which concern the essence of 
Christian doctrine and the very being of experimental and prac- 
tical godliness ; and we remember that equal diversities of opi- 
nion in view of the same premises and sources of knowledge 
exist in relation to every important subject of human thought. 
If liberal and progressive theologians contemplated no more 
than the advancement in divine knowledge which clears up 
Biblical obscurities, harmonizes the smaller differences of evan- 
gelical Christians, and enables all the servants of God to see eye 
to eye ; or, if their idea of the way and measure in which the 
progress of physical science bears on theology, were that, in giv- 
ing us a wider and truer view of the works of God, it gave us a 
juster conception of his word, as when the Copernican system of 
astronomy displaced the Ptolemaic, or the discoveries of geology 
revealed a stupendous series of creations before the coming in 
of man and earth, in their present relations, — if only these and 
like modifications of Christian belief were in the expectation and 
aim of any, there would be no controversy between us. To this 
extent we believe in progress, and Christianity has nothing to 
fear, but rather has much to hope from the deepest researches 
of true science and sound philosophy. 



300 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

If the " advanced thinkers " who glory in their freedom from 
the shackles of dogmatism could go no further than this, we 
doubt, from the spirit they betray, whether they would feel zeal 
enough to go even thus far. The game they are in quest of is 
more important ; and the keenness with which they investigate 
every lane and by-path of criticism, and history, and archaeo- 
logy, is prompted by inveterate opposition to those great cardi- 
nal truths on which the living church of God is founded. If 
only the dross and tin of human frailty, the ' ' wood, hay, and 
stubble ' ' which mistaken builders have placed on the Rock of 
Ages, were cast into the alembic of their destructive criticism, 
we should bid them God-speed ; but when the truths which the 
church has ever clung to with the same faith and affection that 
she gave to her Divine and glorious Head are thus handled, and 
we are told that the doctrine of the Trinity, of the Godhead and 
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, of regeneration, and of a future and 
eternal recompense in another world are vanishing from the 
minds of men, and no longer able to hold their place in theology 
or Scripture, because, forsooth, the spirit of free inquiry is 
abroad in the world, and an unparalleled advance has taken 
place in secular knowledge and Biblical learning, we demur, and 
cannot persuade ourselves that ' ' the foundations of many gene- 
rations" are to be thus summarily swept away. It is more than 
we can credit, that the church, for eighteen hundred years after 
the canon of Scripture was complete, has been ignorant and mis- 
guided as to the fundamental articles of her creed, and that, 
upon such points as these, the apostles, and the fathers, and the 
reformers, and the martyrs, were destitute of a light which has 
been vouchsafed to the students and rhetoricians of the nineteenth 
century. That the Scriptures, like the material universe, are 
an inexhaustible study, and that every age may add something 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 301 

to the treasury of things new and old which are brought there- 
from is true ; but no more true than that the grand and charac- 
teristic doctrines of revealed religion strike the reader of the 
Scripture at first view, even as the salient and obtrusive features 
of the earth and heavens force themselves on the notice of all 
beholders. If the subject of predestination has been disputed 
without a satisfactory issue and general concord, and if the mys- 
tery of the Lord's Supper still divides the faithful, when was 
there a time, since the beginning of the gospel, in which the 
disciples of Jesus did not believe in the fact of sin, the grace of 
forgiveness, the need of holiness, the atonement of Christ, the 
work of the Spirit, and the life everlasting? 

That these great and controlling doctrines of evangelical reli- 
gion are in the Scriptures, and so manifestly there that all 
seekers of truth are sure to find them, is not more conclusively 
proved by the fact that the faith of the church has always em- 
braced them, than by the nature of the means which their im- 
pugners employ to discredit and explode them. Professing to 
receive the Scriptures as a revelation from God, the legitimate 
and obvious method of deciding the question whether these doc- 
trines are contained in the Book, would be to fight the battle 
out on the field of interpretation. The controversy is reduced 
within the narrow limits of this question of fact : What is wrifc 
ten? Do the words of Scripture, explained in accordance with 
the laws of language, and the recognized rules of exegesis, teach 
these truths, or do they not? If with such lights and by such 
arguments it cannot be shown that no such doctrines are taught 
by the writers of Scripture, there is, in all fairness, an end of 
the dispute, and neither party has the shadow of a right to go 
outside of the record, and both are in honour bound to abide by 

its verdict. 
26 



302 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

Far different is the course pursued by a large and influential 
section of those who assail the fundamental principles of the 
Christian faith. They reject the arbiter by whose decision they 
had pledged themselves to abide. They impugn the infallibility 
of the sacred oracles, and thus confess that, in their obvious 
meaning, the Scriptures do teach the doctrines which a liberal 
and progressive Christianity discards. If they do not teach these 
doctrines, there would be no reason for appealing from them to 
another tribunal: and the very fact that such an appeal is taken, 
is one of the most satisfactory confessions ever made as to what 
the actual sense of the Scriptures is. 

A witness is not impeached unless his testimony is likely to 
have a damaging effect. Those who in this manner dishonour 
and degrade Scripture, are men who in words profess that they 
reverence its authority, and find in its pages a divine communi- 
cation. Many of them speak and write under the solemnity of 
ordination vows, which bind them to hold forth the unadulter- 
ated truth of Grod in their ministrations ; and if any one should 
say they were teachers of infidelity, he would be accused by them 
with making an unfounded charge, and using offensive epithets ; 
but it is quite impossible to resist the conviction that they are 
traitors in the camp, who, under the plausible, disguise of ren- 
dering Christianity acceptable or less offensive to thinking men, 
are undermining its strongholds, and preparing to surrender the 
citadel of the faith to its foes. They appear to have infinitely 
more respect for the intelligence of the age, — for the cavils and 
skepticism of an unbelieving world, — than for the most sacred 
convictions of those who love and reverence the word of God ; 
and they seem to experience high delight in exploding, as they 
think, those blessed truths in the faith of which men " of 
whom the world was not worthy' ' have lived and laboured, have 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 303 

suffered and died, since the day that Christ ascended to glory. 
And not the spirit only which is diffused through their writings, 
but the desperate methods to which they have recourse in deal- 
ing with the Bible, at once define their own position in the re- 
ligious world, and prove that the truths of evangelical Chris- 
tianity are so deeply imbedded in the sacred record, that even 
the most violent ' ' wresting ' ' of the Scriptures is insufficient to 
dislodge them. The resources of criticism, philology, and dia- 
lectic subtlety are used, not so much to bring out their sense,, as 
to sap the foundations of their Divine authority ; not so much 
to ascertain what they say, as to prove that when it is ascer- 
tained it cannot be certainly relied on as an oracle from God. 
The inspiration and infallibility of the Scriptures are assailed 
on a great variety of grounds, and from many standpoints ; 
with respect to matters of criticism, history, science, and morals. 
Even, it is alleged that all that the Bible contains cannot be in- 
spired. They say it contains contradictions and anachronisms, 
and manifold marks of human infirmity : and yet they acknow- 
ledge it as, in some sense, a communication from Heaven. 

How to eliminate the human error so as to retain the Divine 
truth, presents a problem which to other men might be difficult, 
but to them it is easy of solution. Men themselves must judge 
of the Book, accepting what to them appears true and worthy 
of God, and rejecting all that does not. The highest authority 
to which they defer, is their own reason and moral nature, — the 
" verifying faculty," — to whose ultimate judgment all that pur- 
ports to be a message from God must be submitted, even though 
it were attended with the most stupendous miracles of knowledge 
and power. " It is no longer held sufficient, ' ' says one of them, 
' ' to rest doctrines on texts of Scripture, one, two, or more, 
which contain, or appear to contain, similar words or ideas. 



304 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

They are connected more closely with our moral nature ; extreme 
consequences are shunned, large allowances are made for the ig- 
norance of mankind."* Such men are not partial to dogmatic 
theology ; creeds and confessions which enunciate the truth so 
sharply as to preclude the possibility of misconstruction or equi- 
vocation incur their contempt. The Christianity which has its 
basis in verbal statements and logical propositions is too angular 
and definite for them, and they take refuge in that vague and 
indeterminate thing which they call "the life," and which is 
developed from within, instead of being inspired from above. 
"The never- changing truth of the Christian life" is the only 
permanent and immutable element of Christianity which they 
admit, and they seem in love with it, because it means nothing, 
and leaves every man to think and do what is right in his own 
eyes. The ttp&tqv ipsvSog, the first lie, of this phase of modern 
unbelief is no novelty. It is the old controversy which has been 
waged from the beginning between faith in a supernatural reve- 
lation, and a proud reliance on the dictates of nature and the 
discoveries of reason. It is the natural preference of an unsanc- 
tified heart for a human philosophy, rather than for a revealed 
religion. Its advocates largely insist that the progress of science 
and civilization brings out the sense of Scripture ; and we sub- 
1 mit whether their writings do not throw a flood of light on the 
relation of antagonism which the apostle Paul represents as 
existing between " the wisdom of men," and the mysteries of 
salvation by the cross of Christ. And whether the man who 
now studiously rejects from the little that he does believe the 
divinity and atonement of the Son of God, is not in the succes- 
sion from those Greeks to whom the preaching of the cross was 
"foolishness," because it could not be subjected to "rational 
* Jowett, in Essays and Reviews. 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 305 

criticism, ' ' and who would not hear him after he mentioned the 
" resurrection," because no such thing was dreamed of in their 
philosophy. " Reason and faith," which God hath joined to- 
gether in the constitution of the human soul, and whose union 
and mutual service he has ordained as the necessary condition 
of acquiring both earthly and heavenly wisdom, are by rational- 
istic unbelief put asunder, and set in relations of hostility to each 
other : and because the transcendental mysteries of redemption 
cannot be demonstrated from premises within our own reach, or 
do not reveal themselves immediately to our intuitions, they are 
repudiated as incredible and absurd. 

That this is most unreasonable may be seen in its assuming 
what can never be shown to be true, viz. , the impossibility of 
supernatural communications from God to men — an impossibility 
which all the positive evidences of Christianity go to disprove. 

It is not to reason, but to the false relation in which reason is 
placed, and the perverted use to which it is applied, that the re- 
velations of the gospel are opposed. As far as reason sees, it is 
our guide ; when it reaches the boundary of its discoveries, faith 
in a well-attested revelation from God comes to our assistance, 
and opens a vista of supernal glories, in which are things that 
eye hath not seen nor ear heard, nor man's heart in all its ques- 
tionings and criticisms has ever conceived. The one supple- 
ments the other. In the graceful allegory of Henry Rogers: 
" Reason and Faith are twin-born; the one in form and fea- 
tures the image of manly beauty ; the other of feminine grace 
and gentleness ; but to each of whom, alas ! is allotted a sad 
privation. While the bright eyes of Reason are full of piercing 
and restless intelligence, his ear is closed to sound ; and while 
Faith has an ear of exquisite delicacy, on her sightless orbs, as 
she lifts them heavenward, the sunbeam plays in vain. Hand 

2a* 



3&6 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

in hand the brother and sister in all mutual love pursue their 
way through a world on which, like ours, day breaks and night 
falls alternate ; by day the eyes of Reason are the guide of Faith, 
and by night the ear of Faith is the guide of Reason." En- 
lightened Christianity appreciates and uses both ; the advocates 
of a progressive theology, which leaves the Scriptures behind 
it while professing a qualified faith in their revelations, enthrone 
Reason as the supreme judge and the last and highest source of 
truth. The divinity within is the oracle they credit, the voice 
of the people is to them the voice of God. 

And to the dark and dubious sayings of such an inspiration, 
they would remand for rest those who have wearied themselves 
in the greatness of their way, amid the literalities of Scripture 
and the jarring theologies of the church ! Was ever a thought 
so preposterous? That man's moral nature is fixed and immu- 
table in the essential elements that belong to it, such as the ac- 
countability and freedom of which it can never be divested, to- 
gether with the sin which defiles the conscience and alienates the 
heart from God and blinds the understanding, we know well 
enough ; but that its deliverances on the high and momentous 
questions which concern the nature, relations, duties, dangers, 
salvation, and destiny of man are the only certain, final, and 
permanent truths of theology, is something we have not been 
able to see, nor can we understand exactly what and where the 
oracle is that utters them. If it be the universal reason and 
conscience of the race, in what book are they embodied, and 
who has prepared a "harmony" of the gospels according to 
Zoroaster and Mohammed, or who has collated the books of 
Confucius with the book of Mormon, and who, out of the un- 
written traditions of all ages and all climes, has gathered and 
stated the moral and religious truth in which all agree? Is 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 307 

there any such thing as this accepted creed of the universal rea- 
son and moral nature of mankind? As to the first principle of 
all theology, the being of a God, what does it amount to? 
The atheist says there is no God; the pantheist that there 
is no being but God ; the polytheist that there are many 
gods ; the interior tribes of Africa find their conceptions of a 
divinity realized in the conjurer who professes to bring them 
rain ; the Christian bows down at ' ' the throne of the King eter- 
nal, immortal, and invisible." If such diversities, contradic- 
tions, and absurdities arise under the tuition of man's moral 
nature and unassisted reason, in reference to the most funda- 
mental article of religion, it is vain to seek repose in its teach- 
ings from the unrest of doubt and uncertainty. 

It does not furnish the elements of an abiding and fixed theo- 
logy. If, instead of trying to catch the voice of universal hu- 
manity, as it rises in the discordant speech of all nations, and 
echoes along the track of the centuries, we descend to sections, 
schools, coteries, and individuals, who assume to give forth the 
witness of reason and nature on the solemn problems of man's 
duty and destiny, what have we but a perfect Babel of contra- 
dictory opinions ? Their only and absolute unity consists in a 
common opposition to evangelical truth. 

A fallacy which vitiates all their speculations and reasonings 
is the assumption that the moral nature, the intuitional con- 
sciousness, or by whatever name it may be called, is, or can be, 
a source of transcendental truths which lie beyond the sphere 
of rational demonstration, and are not embraced in that of ne- 
cessary convictions. It is a judge rather than a revealer; a 
faculty or a susceptibility to be educated and enlightened, not 
an oracle at whose feet we are to sit down ; and though it be 
capable, as it is alleged, of developing only in certain directions 



308 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

and " to certain effects/ ' the development ranges up and down 
on a scale which is nearly immense. "We have an original 
susceptibility of music, of beauty, of religion," it is said. 
"Granted," replies the writer already quoted, "but as the 
actual development of the susceptibility exhibits all the diver- 
sities between Handel's notions of harmony, and those of an 
American Indian, between Raphael's notions of beauty and those 
of a Hottentot ; between St. Paul's notions of a God, and those 
of a New Zealander. it would appear that the education of this 
susceptibility is at least as important as the susceptibility itself, 
if not more so." We must, therefore, conclude that, repudiat- 
ing the Divine authority of Scripture, or which amounts to the 
same thing, bringing its contents to the bar of reason to be con- 
demned or approved, gives small promise of repose from the 
war of conflicting beliefs, and presents no sort of temptation to 
those who have cast the anchor of their hope and faith on the 
solid rock of God's eternal truth. The data of a fixed and im- 
mutable theology are contained in the revelations of Him whose 
omniscient eye at one and the same look pierced the recesses 
of our nature, and saw the ' £ end from the beginning ' ' of hu- 
man progress, and who gave such discoveries of truth, in nature, 
manner, amount, in words even, as would be adapted and suffi- 
cient for all time, and for all the possible vicissitudes of the race. 
It needs no supplementary additions, admits of no subtractions, 
and denounces the woes it predicts on every one who mutilates 
it in either respect. 

And to deny or doubt that on all vital points it is well and 
rightly understood, would approach very nearly to blaspheming 
its Author, by saying that he had given to the world a revelation 
of the way of life, which still left men in darkness, after the 
study and experience of two thousand years ! Was ever Del- 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 309 

phic utterance more ambiguous ? If the aim had been to hide 
the truth under the pretence of making it known, could the suc- 
cess by any possibility have been more complete? The avowed 
design of God in speaking to men at all, the promise of the 
Holy Ghost to dwell with the church for ever, leading the dis- 
ciples of Jesus into " all truth," and the historical fact, that 
I those who have clung to the articles of faith in which evangeli- 
cal Christians are agreed, have been "a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works, ' ' the conservators of truth and holiness on the 
earth, — all serve to assure us that "the truth as it is in Jesus 
has been found and understood, confessed and obeyed, and that 
in the happy experience of millions on earth, and of myriads in 
heaven, his prayer, that men might know c ' the only true God, 
and Jesus Christ whom he had sent, ' ' has received its blissful 
answer. While, therefore, we have l ' no faith in the infallibility 
of the church, we have unbounded confidence in the truth of 
what all Christians believe."* 

II. But while we would thus " earnestly contend for the faith 
once delivered to the saints, ' ' and insist that truth is immutable 
as the God of truth from whom it emanates, and as the Scrip- 
tures in which it is expressed, and whilst with equal confidence 
we urge that the elements of a fixed and permanent theology 
exist in the doctrines which the faithful in all ages and in all 
parts of Christendom have embraced, we are not blind to the 
fact, and have no sort of reason for disguising it, that theology 
itself has a history which shows the alternate progress and de- 
cay of sound doctrine. This history is not that of truth in the 
abstract, but of truth in its relations to the mind of man ; the 
object of intellectual apprehension and of faith, and subject to 
all the influences from without and from within which either 
* Dr. Hodge. 



310 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

facilitate or hinder its reception. This fact, in the nature of the 
case, has given rise to the most important branch of ecclesiasti- 
cal history — that of doctrines — which ' c shows how the mind 
of the church has gradually apprehended and unfolded the 
divine truth, given in the Holy Scriptures, how the teach- 
ings of Scripture have come to form the dogmas of the 
church, and have grown into systems stamped with public au- 
thority."* 

A progress like this implies a certain degree of imperfection, 
and, within certain limits, a degree of mutability in the church's 
views and statements even of the most fundamental doctrines ; 
and shows how she has "struggled for centuries to find language 
sufficiently precise to express her consciousness respecting them. ' 'f 
She has come to the knowledge of the truth under a discipline 
analogous to that by which individual believers get an insight 
into the promises of the gospel, and come to the experimental 
knowledge of its strong consolations, — by the trials, and sorrows, 
and opposition she has met with in her progress toward the 
light and purity of her millennial state. A change of circum- 
stances brings new truths to view, or at least sets them in clearer 
light, and in new relations to the system of doctrine and the life 
of the church. So much is this the case, that certain periods 
are famous for the triumphant vindication and establishment of 
some one great truth of the Christian system, — as of the person 
of Christ, original sin, justification by faith, and the doctrines 
of grace, as opposed to Arminian free-will, which are severally 
linked in history with the names of Athanasius and Augustine, 
with Luther and the Synod of Dort. Every creed in Christen- 
dom bears the marks of theological controversy, and carries in 
itself, in its language and form, the history of the period in 
* Dr. Schaff. f Dr. Hodge. 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 311 

which it originated. If there is, as Mr. Trench has shown, a 
1 ' history in words, ' ' there is certainly a history in creeds and 
confessions, whose very terms are abiding memorials of the con- 
flicts which gave them birth. 

Among the causes which modify the form, and, to some ex- 
tent, affect the substance of theology, we would not be disposed 
to assign a place of much importance to temperament ancborigi- 
nal differences of mental constitution. 

Some have thought they could trace the influence of tempera- 
ment even in the subjects treated by the different apostles, and 
have spoken of James as phlegmatic, of Peter as sanguine, of 
Paul as choleric, and of John as melancholic : but we judge that 
whatever may have been their physical conditions, it was not 
these, but the Spirit of God, that inspired their doctrines ; and 
we feel quite sure that it is the depravity of the heart, more 
than any peculiarity of bodily or mental organization, that muti- 
lates or prevents the clear perception and complete embrace 
of divine truth. 

Nevertheless, something may be conceded to differences of 
race and nationality, and even to individual idiosyncrasies. 
Evangelical theology, as it exists in the mind of a Frenchman, 
or of a German, or of an Oriental convert, though identical in 
substance, is not precisely the same " formation" as in the di- 
rect, common-sense, and logical mind of the Anglo-saxon. With 
them, emotion, philosophic subtlety, and a glowing imagination 
shape and colour the truth : with us, a severe logic casts it into 
formal and definite propositions. And as it regards individual 
minds, theology, as a system of truth believed, and as a science 
developed, is not precisely the same thing as it lies in the con- 
ception and understanding of different persons. This is a neces- 
sary result of the imperfection, or at least the limits of the hu- 



312 TRUTH IN LOVE. - 

man mind : but it argues no imperfection of the truth ; it is 
rather a mark of its divinity. 

As Dr. Schaff has finely remarked, " The truth of the gospel, 
in itself infinite, can adapt itself to every class, to every tempera- 
ment, every order of talent, and every habit of thought. Like 
the light of the sun, it breaks into various colours, according to 
the nature of the bodies on which it falls ; like the jewel, it 
emits a new radiance at every turn. ' ' 

A similar difference in the mode of apprehending truth, and, 
to a certain extent, also, in the substance of the doctrine appre- 
hended, is caused by difference in the culture, taste, character, 
and spirit of successive and distant ages and generations. 

Though that indefinite and impalpable thing called "the 
spirit of the age ' ' is invoked to aid the cause of a lax and lati- 
tudinarian theology, and is used to unsettle and dissipate the 
old beliefs of the church, it is a matter of simple observation 
and history, that while the leaven of Divine truth pervades and 
assimilates the mass of our lapsed humanity, it moves in the 
channels which at any time it finds existing, employs the imple- 
ments which civilization supplies to its hands, and becomes " all 
things to all men. ' ' Christianity not only uses different methods 
in its practical dealing with the work it has in charge, but it 
presents truth in new proportions and new phases, as providen- 
tial occasions arise ; now apologetic, then polemic ; at one time 
dogmatic, at another practical. Each of these in its time is the 
best form of theology, and is of use in all succeeding time ; but 
nothing is plainer than that if the peculiarity of one such period 
were carried into another, and truth exhibited in the same rela- 
tions and degrees, it would be shorn of its power. Retaining its 
own changeless identity, it succeeds by c ' changing its voice, ' ' 
speaking in the tongue, and after the manner, and according to 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 313 

the taste of the times. Its image is not a granite rock, which 
lies immovable in its subterranean bed, the same in its every 
particle since it was melted and moulded into its final form by 
the internal fires of the globe. It is rather the limpid stream 
which meanders through the valleys, flows round the hills, and 
reflects from its glassy bosom the beauties of the adjacent land- 
scape, and the glories of the over-arching sky. 

In the ages past, the rise of heresies and errors has probably 
exerted more power in giving form and proportion to theology 
than any other single cause. In our times, it would seem that 
this predominant influence is exerted by the increase of Biblical 
learning and the progress of natural science. In all the requisite 
appliances for a critical and thorough study of the Scriptures, 
this century is greatly in advance of the past, and a new light 
has been thrown on the sense of Scripture, which, with inferior 
advantages, was hardly attainable : and what in this direction 
has been, is that which shall be. To conclude that no further 
additions will be made from the better interpretation of the 
Scriptures to the existing stock of Divine truth as contained in 
the knowledge and creeds of the church would be as presump- 
tuous as to affirm that physical investigations had reached the 
ultima thule of their progress, that no more inventions in the 
useful or fine arts were to be expected, and that, in short, the 
material works of God were completely explored and compre- 
hended. While the truth which is necessary to the being of the 
church and the salvation of the soul lies on the surface of Scrip- 
ture, it is doing honour to God to believe that his word like his 
works is sufficient to occupy and reward the study of the church 
throughout her earthly history. Not only is philology directly 
tributary to the better understanding of the Bible and to the 

increase of our knowledge of Divine truth, but we must admit 

27 



314 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

that the progress of the physical sciences since the incoming of 
the Baconian philosophy, and especially during the past half- 
century, has shed an indirect though important light on the 
meaning of some parts of Divine revelation. It is true that an 
infidel philosophy, and a science falsely so-called, have presumed 
to pronounce its statements ignorant and mistaken, and we should 
exercise the greatest caution in admitting the dicta of any 
science which appear to conflict with the natural sense of the 
word of Grod, yet we know that true science has not only dis- 
closed an inexhaustible store of illustrations, but has revealed a 
fulness and a grandeur of meaning in particular passages, which 
could not otherwise have been detected. If when men thought 
that the .earth was the centre of the system, the heavens de- 
clared the glory of God, and the nocturnal sky evoked the sub- 
lime strains of the Psalmist's praise, with what a widened reach 
of thought, and in view of how much grander displays of Al- 
mighty power and wisdom, do we exclaim, ' ' Lord, our Lord, 
how excellent is thy name in all the earth ! " " When I con- 
sider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the 
stars which thou hast ordained, what is man, that thou art mind- 
ful of him ; or the son of man, that thou visitest him?" 

How far the amount and the forms of Christian theology may 
be affected by these and other causes, in the lapse of coming 
ages, the nature of the case forbids our knowing or even conjec- 
turing. There are two limits within which it will be confined, 
whatever its amount. On the one hand it will be bounded by 
the truths of the gospel, which we certainly know, and will be 
built upon them, and on the other it will fall far short of the un- 
clouded vision of the heavenly state. Between these limits 
there is a vast field to range over, and there is reason to believe 
that the spiritual knowledge of the church will increase with the 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 315 

passing centuries, until, in its millennial brightness, the know- 
ledge of God which shall then fill the earth as the waters do the 
seas, will be distinguished as much for its depth, and clearness, 
and comprehensiveness, as for its universal prevalence. ' ' The 
light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun ; and the light 
of the sun shall be sevenfold as the light of seven days. ' ' 

We should not, therefore, as it seems to me, be afraid of any 
possible advances either in secular learning or theological inves- 
tigations, as if the foundations we stand upon might thereby be 
endangered ; nor should we suffer the prejudice naturally begot- 
ten by the pretended discoveries of rationalizing and infidel pro- 
gressives to close our eyes to the important truth which they 
distort and abuse. 

In the sense and under the limitations suggested, progress is 
perfectly consistent with the staunchest conservatism : living in 
an age which boldly questions and freely criticizes every thing 
in morals, and politics, and religion, which the traditions of the 
past have delivered to the present, we need to be well established 
in the faith, and yet so far in sympathy with the spirit of pro- 
gress as to welcome whatever comes to us with the clear attesta- 
tion of truth ; and be willing to learn the defects of our opinions 
even from our enemies. 

The application of these views to the existing creeds and con- 
fessions of the church opens a field of inquiry of no small impor- 
tance, and of considerable difficulty, not to say delicacy. That 
they embody the essential truths of the gospel, is what we have 
specially laboured to prove, and do most assuredly believe. 

But that they are absolutely faultless, and of equal authority 
with the Scriptures, is what nothing but the narrowest and most 
benighted bigotry would pretend. The very process of their 
development amid temptations and conflicts with error, while it 



316 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

stamps them in their essence with the seal of divinity, involves 
the liability, if not the absolute certainty, of their being cast in 
moulds that are marred by human imperfection. The state 
of learning and philosophy at the time ; the degree and kind of 
culture possessed by their framers ; the particular controversies 
out of which the necessity of their formation arose, and the here- 
sies at which they were aimed, impress upon them a strictly his- 
torical character, and involve, of necessity, a certain degree of 
one-sidedness. The logic, the learning, and the philosophy of 
the age leave their print upon them : this is inevitable, and it is 
of the nature of an imperfection. The substantial truth is there, 
but not in the words, forms, connexions, and proportions in 
which we find it in the Scriptures. As it respects the creeds of 
the several Christian denominations, the imperfection, and even 
the error, is patent on their face, in the contradictions they op- 
pose to each other on points of secondary importance. The gos- 
pel is Divine ; these are human ; and in depressing them to the 
position which rightfully belongs to them, we only seek to exalt 
the word of God to its throne of supreme and sole authority. 

Heretics hate creeds, because their own errors are therein con- 
demned, and the truth is set forth in such sharp and pointed 
antagonism, that no refuge of ambiguity remains : for this pur- 
pose, as well as for the indoctrination of the church, they are of 
excellent use; the very spear of Ithuriel which disrobes the 
father of lies, though he were "transformed as an angel of 
light." 

But there is a danger connected with their use. If the 
" form" — the type — " of doctrine in which our views and expe- 
rience are moulded is that of the scientific theology of the creeds, 
instead of the inspired words and truths of the Scriptures, they 
will be so far more human and less divine, and the mere shape 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 317 

and order of truth will be likely to hold a place in our minds 
which should be assigned to its substance. This tendency is 
mainly confined to ministers of the gospel and students of theo- 
logy, who study divinity as a science : and its influence is most 
frequently seen in young preachers, who are wont to use the 
scholastic nomenclature of the text-books, rather than the 
"words which the Holy Ghost teacheth." It is always done at 
a vast sacrifice of practical power and impression, though it may, 
perchance, save the interests of orthodoxy. The energy and 
Spirit of God are in the word of God as they are not in anything 
else. If all nature, art, history, and life be put in requisition 
to illustrate and win attention to their expression, let "no wis- 
dom of words, ' ' no scientific stiffness and artificial niceties ob- 
scure their divine beauty, or impede their living power. The 
creeds savour of controversy; the gospel is a testimony, and 
needs not dialectic subtleties, but an earnest and tender procla- 
mation. " Controversy, ' ' said Dr. Chalmers, addressing his 
theological classes, "may lead you to exchange the Scriptural 
for the scholastic style, so that instead of propounding a doctrine 
in those words which were devised by God for the direct instruc- 
tion of the teachable, you may propound it in those words which 
have been devised by men for putting down the heresies of gain- 
sayers:" this he regarded as an evil; and in one of his letters 
he enlarged on what he terms "the spontaneity and development 
of the immediate oracles, ' ' in contrast with ' c catechisms which, 
however correct in their dogmata, may not be correct in their 
general effect upon the mind. ' ' 

If the scientific and controversial statement of truth is liable 
to objection on the ground of its one-sidedness and artificial 
jointing, much more detrimental to its impression and saving 

power is that ' ' deceitful handling ' ' which converts the gospel 
27* 



318 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

of Christ into a human philosophy. Instead of promulgating it 
as a Divine testimony, and demanding the " obedience of faith, " 
for " the authority of Grod speaking therein," there is a constant 
temptation of the most seductive character to men of superior 
gifts, not only to throw their teachings into a philosophic form, 
but to find the very foundations of the Christian faith in an 
earth-born philosophy. Not content with seeking for illustra- 
tions and analogies, they must show reasons and arguments, and 
seem to feel as if a Divine declaration were hardly worthy of 
credence, unless backed by their own demonstrations. 

Their theories of psychology, and metaphysics, and the moral 
government of God, are somewhat more fundamental in their 
apprehension and methods, than the inspired verities of Scrip- 
ture, which must, accordingly, take their shape, adjustment, and 
expression from what underlies them. This precisely is what 
we understand the apostle Paul to condemn in terms the most 
emphatic, as that which makes the cross of Christ ' c of none 
effect. ' ' It is the ' ' wisdom of words, ' ' and the ' ' enticing words 
of man's wisdom" which " the wise" and u the scribe," and 
the " disputer of this world," would employ to express the doc- 
trines of their own philosophy, but which as little befit the 
herald and teacher of gospel mysteries, as the cumbrous armour 
of the king was suited to the limbs and frame of the shepherd- 
boy who ' l assayed' ' to use them. 

It imparts immense weight to the apostle's repudiation of the 
methods and principles of the Greek philosophy to know that 
he was schooled therein, and could have met its masters on their 
own ground. For one who is incapable of such speculations, it 
is no act of self-denial to ignore them, but in Paul it required a 
higher courage and a stronger resolution than was requisite for 
fighting with beasts at Ephesus, or laying his head on the block 



THE LAW OF HUMAN PROGRESS. 319 

at Rome, to " preach. Christ crucified in a crucified language, " 
and in the presence of Epicureans and Stoics, to utter the deep 
things of God, " not in words which man's wisdom teacheth, but 
which the Holy Ghost teacheth." To do otherwise is to strip 
the gospel of its grand peculiarity as a system of supernatural 
truth, which the reason of man can neither discover nor prove. 
It is to substitute the authority of man for the authority of God, 
and to reject the element of its greatest strength — the faith 
which the soul reposes in the testimony of him who cannot lie. 
" A rationalistic Christian, a philosophizing theologian," as has 
been truly remarked, " lays aside the divine for the human, the 
wisdom of God for the wisdom of men, the infinite and infallible 
for the finite and fallible. The success of the gospel depends on 
its being presented, not as the word of man, but as the word of 
God ; not as something to be proved, but as something to be 
believed."* 

The pulpit, as an instrument of regeneration and life, is vitally 
conditioned upon a faithful adherence to these principles. De- 
parture therefrom in the mode and spirit in which divine truth 
is handled may attract the superficial, and please the carnally- 
minded, but it will not prove { ' the power of God unto salva- 
tion." The word and not man's reasonings upon it is the ham- 
mer that breaks the flinty rock, the two-edged sword that 
pierces to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and is a dis- 
cerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Our com- 
mission authorizes and commands us only to "preach the 
word," — to proclaim the good news, — to " testify the gospel of 
the grace of God. ' ' 

Thus shall we finish our course with joy to ourselves, with 
salvation to others, and with glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. 
* Dr. Hodge, on 2 Cor. pp. 235, 236. 



320 TRUTH IN LOVE. 

The views now suggested, of a conservatively progressive 
theology, satisfy two of the profoundest tendencies or instincts 
of a renewed mind, and are full of consolation. They leave the 
Christian in the assured possession of what he has, and give him 
the promise of ever-increasing knowledge. They satisfy the de- 
sire for absolute certainty, and for indefinite progress. If a 
suspicion could cross the mind that the great truths on which 
the new life has been fed should ever pale their brightness in 
the presence of other revelations, or that u the glorious gospel 
of the blessed God' ' should be found to have answered only a 
temporary use, and to have been but relatively true, it would 
send a thrill of anguish to the Christian heart. And if, on the 
other hand, a limit were assigned to our knowledge of God and 
truth, the future of existence would be divested of one of its 
principal charms, and would become almost an object of dread, 
instead of being, as it now is, radiant and glorious with all that 
inspires hope, and makes the Christian joyful in the prospect 
of immortality. That prospect is one of eternal progression in 
knowledge ; and of the study of theology in a clearer light and 
in far other conditions than those which limit our view and re- 
tard our advances on earth. Now we are slowly and laboriously 
acquainting ourselves with the rudiments of the divine science ; 
then we shall deal with its highest forms, and most recondite 
mysteries. Here it is night, there it is day. At present we are 
children in understanding, hereafter we shall be men. 

With slow and unsteady step, we walk by faith ; when faith 
is changed to sight, we shall move on with bold and rapid pace. 

u Now we see through a glass darkly: but then face to face. 
Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as also I am 
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